A Deal With The Devil

Look folks, I am very familiar with what is known as "Godwin's Law" which says that if any political argument goes on long enough, sooner or later Hitler will be mentioned. And let me be clear that no one on either side of our political debates is actually truly comparable to the most notorious mass murderer in modern history.

But let's be honest. Vladimir Putin is making a bid for the job.

And sadly, we are making many of the same mistakes the Allies made leading up to the big disagreement that has the number 2 after it. Here's a list of the timid responses to German aggression in the 1930's...

• France: Plagued by political instability and deep trauma from World War I, France relied on defensive strategies (such as the Maginot Line) and refused to act alone when Germany remilitarized the Rhineland in 1936 or annexed Austria in 1938. France did formally declare war when Poland was invaded in September 1939, but it remained largely idle ("Phony War") until falling to Germany in May 1940.
• Great Britain: Led largely by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, Britain pursued appeasement—making territorial concessions to Hitler (such as signing the 1938 Munich Agreement over Czechoslovakia) in hopes of avoiding another devastating world war. Britain did not actively fight Hitler until Germany invaded Poland in 1939.
• The United States: Bound by strict isolationist Neutrality Acts passed by Congress through the 1930s, the U.S. legally prohibited exporting arms or financial credits to European belligerents, staying completely out of the European conflict until the attack on Pearl Harbor and Germany's subsequent declaration of war in December 1941.

The Rhineland, Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia, Danzig, not to mention Mussolini's conquest of Ethiopia, all were basically ignored as the world assumed this posture...

And that was the standard diplomatic response until it was no longer possible, because German and then Japanese bombs were falling.

And I fear we are heading down that road again, only with a bit of a twist. One world leader has obviously picked a side, and it isn't the allies.

President Trump, for so many painfully obvious reasons, has chosen to allow Russian diesel fuel to be sold around the world, including here in the US. This of course is clear defiance of the US Congress who expanded sanctions on Russia just a month ago and a betrayal of Ukraine and it's President Volodymir Zelenskyy.

In fact, President Trump placed the blame for diesel prices squarely on Zelenskyy claiming he could have had a peace deal many times and further stated that Ukraine needs a new President. Of course, any deals Ukraine could have made would include virtual surrender of at least one fifth of their country.

Imagine making a deal with a US invader who held the entire Eastern Seaboard, both red and blue states. Give it up to get a deal?

Well, our new deal is with the country that invaded and occupies that one fifth.

And, even among Republicans, there is pushback.

“70% of Americans support Ukraine. Propping up Putin’s war economy is morally wrong as he uses that money to bomb cities,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) wrote on X.

And now CNN International reports...

The Trump administration has warned Ukraine and allies in Europe that the US could suspend intelligence sharing and European purchases of US weapons for Ukraine if Kyiv does not halt its deep strikes on Russian energy facilities, two European officials told CNN.

And thus, the dagger in Ukraine's back is now completely inserted.

So, why play Chamberlain in the revival production of the 1930's? Well a couple of reasons come to mind. One, the midterm elections are coming and don't look good for MAGA. High diesel prices, partially due to Ukraine's successful war on Russian refineries, but mainly caused by the oil shortage because of the US war with Iran, mean that if we can appear to be reducing prices and shifting the blame to someone else, that counts as a win.

Of course, the amounts are so small and the betrayal so large, it is obvious to even dedicated Republicans what is going on here, and to voters as well. It is craven and will not stop Putin's aggression any more than the Munich Pact stopped Hitler's.

In 2014, Putin took the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine, while the Obama Administration, I gather, sent a strongly worded letter to the UN.

Well, that whetted his appetite, so now, he's gone after the rest. There are other actions as well...

• Airspace Incursions: Russian military aircraft, drones, and missiles have repeatedly breached the airspace of NATO countries—including Poland, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. For example, Russian drones and missile debris have struck or landed inside Romania and Poland, and NATO jets have frequently been scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft.
• Sabotage and Arson: European intelligence services have tied Russian agents to physical sabotage operations, such as arson attacks on weapons factories, warehouses, and logistics hubs, as well as a foiled explosives-laden drone attack near Ukrainian cargo planes at Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany.
• Cyberattacks and GPS Jamming: Russia has carried out persistent cyberattacks and widespread GPS jamming in the Baltic Sea and Eastern Europe, disrupting commercial aviation, maritime navigation, and critical infrastructure.
• Critical Infrastructure Damage: Undersea power cables and communication lines in the Baltic Sea have been damaged or severed in incidents linked by investigators to Russian shadow-fleet vessels and research ships.
• Airport and Transport Disruptions: A wave of mysterious drone sightings and incursions has forced temporary closures or flight delays at major airports across Denmark, Norway, and Belgium.

And the US reaction? We have diverted money from NATO and the Middle East to some right-wing dictators in Latin America and obviously decided Ukraine can be sacrificed to the greater good of American politics.

But there may be other reasons at play here. If you look at the pattern, it goes back to the 2016 election, and it was clear who the Kremlin favored. Multiple suspicious links between Trump associates and Russian officials were discovered by the FBI, a special counsel investigation, and several United States congressional committees, as part of their investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

Following intelligence reports about the Russian interference, Trump and some of his campaign members, business partners, administration nominees, and family members were subjected to intense scrutiny.

Several people connected to the Trump campaign made false statements about those links and obstructed investigations. These investigations resulted in many criminal charges and indictments.

The U.S. Intelligence Community assessed that Putin personally ordered an influence and hacking campaign aimed at undermining Hillary Clinton and boosting Donald Trump, noting that Putin favored Trump. President Trump's election was applauded in the Russian Parliament, the Duma.

Intelligence reports stated that in 2020 Putin authorized operations to assist Trump and denigrate Joe Biden, utilizing online narratives and political allies to shape public perception. U.S. intelligence officials briefed that in 2024 Russia maintained a clear preference for Trump, heavily influenced by his stances on U.S. foreign policy, military aid, and the war in Ukraine.

We have the example of the Helsinki Summit (July 2018), where during a joint press conference with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump stated he did not "see any reason why" Russia would have hacked the 2016 U.S. election, directly contradicting findings from 17 U.S. intelligence agencies, congressional committees, and Department of Justice indictments.

Trump long ago stopped direct aid to Ukraine and still maintains that, oh gosh, if only he'd been President, none of this would have happened. Now, Ukraine is apparently on its own.

And of course, the little matter of an insufficient number of "Thank You" notes from Zelenskyy was more than we could bear.

NATO nations are noticeably building up their respective militaries, but without the US involved in the organization, it is the equivalent of France building the Maginot Line in the 30's.

Trump recently commented on the fatal leak of a plague virus from a Russian lab and declared, with seemingly no evidence, that it wasn't a bioweapon. How does he know that? The simple answer is, he doesn't.

So, like Europe in the 1930's, we hope he'll be satisfied with Ukraine. Their valiant and in many ways, successful struggle against a brutal invasion is the kind of thing we used to applaud and support. No more.

All this for roughly half a day of US diesel usage.

What we are doing is simply cowardly and shameful.

But I also see online a lot of rationalization for the move from MAGA. There are lots of folks blaming Ukraine for this situation, forgetting, I guess, who invaded whom. Zelensky comes in for a lot of blame online, with some calling him a dictator for delaying elections.

Given that Russia is targeting apartments, schools, shopping malls, and power stations, they would obviously love to hit large groups of voters gathered in one place.

But these kinds of defenses of the indefensible are to be expected. Trump even blurted out the truth at a rally this week.

 “I could say the stupidest things, and you’d clap.”

And I suspect they will.