Just as the U.S. was the aggressor in Vietnam, Russia is the aggressor in Ukraine. One significant difference: Ukraine and Russia have a much more extensive historical, cultural and geographical shared past than does the U.S. and Vietnam. This is not to in anyway to justify Russia’s aggression, but it helps explain why, for example,NATO’s entry into Ukraine is viewed by Russia as aggression. NATO is composed on many nations, but militarily it is one coordinated force, sharing the same weapons systems and central command. Relevant is this regard is the fact that when the cold war ended, the United States promised Russia that NATO would not expand. True, that promise never was put into writing, but there is no doubt that the promise was made and not kept. Forget Putin and his nastiness. Remember what many Russians remember about being attacked from the West and the 26 million Russian citizens who were killed in the last one. And remember what trust is all about. Looking the other in the eye and shaking hands is the bedrock. Agreeing to abide by law. The Constitution is just a piece of paper. Face to face communication is needed now. Yes, things have gotten off to a bad start with Trump and Vance bushwalking Zelensky. But it is a beginning and needs to be built on.
The West has vigorously protested that no such deal was ever struck. However, hundreds of memos, meeting minutes and transcripts from U.S. archives indicate otherwise…..In early February 1990, U.S. leaders made the Soviets an offer. According to transcripts of meetings in Moscow on Feb. 9, then-Secretary of State James Baker suggested that in exchange for cooperation on Germany, U.S. could make “iron-clad guarantees” that NATO would not expand “one inch eastward.” Less than a week later, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to begin reunification talks. No formal deal was struck, but from all the evidence, the quid pro quo was clear: Gorbachev acceded to Germany’s western alignment and the U.S. would limit NATO’s expansion…….
Again, this is not to justify Russia’s aggression, but it must be taken into account if one wants to find a way to end the war. One of the reasons the United States stayed in Vietnam for as long as it did was that it did not want to “lose face”. Putin is in the same position.
It’s therefore not surprising that Russia was incensed when Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, the Baltic states and others were ushered into NATO membership starting in the mid-1990s. Boris Yeltsin, Dmitry Medvedev and Gorbachev himself protested through both public and private channels that U.S. leaders had violated the non-expansion arrangement. As NATO began looking even further eastward, to Ukraine and Georgia, protests turned to outright aggression and saber-rattling.
-Los Angeles Times: Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson: May 30, 2016 5 AM PT
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky and offered U.S. support for Ukraine in exchange for half the country’s mineral resources. My understanding is that Zelensky brought up the idea publicly and thereby went into his meeting with Trump having already offered a deal that a real estate mogul may be partial to when he is not trying to remove 2 million from their homeland and put up a luxury Resort. Trump’s unprecedented and and nakedly imperialist salvos about purchasing Denmark, making Canada our 51st state and sending troops into Mexico most likely contributed to Zelensky’s decision to make the offer, the quid for his quo being an agreement that the U.S.would agree to protect a Ukraine in which it had economic interests. But for all anyone knows, Trump may have also promised Putin that he could have the other half of the plunder. But we do know that Trump has no love for NATO. And we know that the fog of war needs to end before Peace can be created.
Were the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine to agree to an immediate ceasefire and their militaries to stay put, both sides most likely will continue to bolster their positions with military and humanitarian supplies, but room would be made for diplomacy and, yes, a Deal.
Advice to ALL CONCERNED: Make an offer. NO NATO. NATO military stays put. Russian military stays put. PEACE.