Here’s what it looks like to me….Trump is acting like a mafia boss trying to carve up the world with Putin the way heads of crime families operate. We can have Greenland, Canada, and Panama and Russia gets Ukraine and who knows what else. Russia can have the oil in the Arctic but in return I want all the minerals from Ukraine, so we are splitting the rare and valuable things that the earth has to offer.
Everything is for sale? Everything is a deal? Today’s news suggests that USA gets billions in mineral rights from Ukraine, and maybe (maybe?) we will provide some security. Trump doesn’t accept USAs traditional role helping the weak as the strongest partner, but now we are just trying to shake down the weak, and run a protection racket.
In today’s NYTimes column by Thomas Friedman (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/opinion/trump-putin-ukraine.html?smid=url-share) he recounts a news item about Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his recent meeting with Zelensky, in Kyiv. Bessent presented Zelensky with an offer he couldn’t refuse – to sign over Ukrainian mineral rights to America, worth billions of dollars, to compensate for US aid. Friedman called it a scene right out of The Godfather. Bessent pushed the paper across the table, demanding that Zelensky sign it. Zelensky took a quick look and said he would discuss it with his team. Bessent then pushed the paper closer to Zelensky. “You really need to sign this,” the Treasury secretary said, telling Zelensky that “people back in Washington” would be very upset if he didn’t. Zelensky supposedly took the document but didn’t commit to signing.
Trump is no longer surrounded by people who can act as bumper cushions when he goes off the rails. He revenge reign has eliminated anyone who won’t declare fealty, and the replacements are incredibly, laughably, unqualified sycophants.
It makes me sick to my stomach and humiliated for my country.
James Baldwin famously said “I love America more than any other country in the world, and exactly for this reason I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”
mikesteinharter.com 