9/19: Ukraine News Roundup

 Politico: Does America Want Ukraine to Defeat Russia? It Doesn’t Look That Way.

Old friend and former Editor of Politico Europe writes an extended piece from Kyiv which questions the Biden Administration policy and his legacy. Most notably, Matt raises the specter of the Chicken Kyiv speech of George Bush: “To Ukrainians, America’s president made it dispiritingly clear that he feared the uncertainty of Russia’s collapse more than he wanted to stand by values like democracy and self determination for a long repressed colonial outpost of Moscow.: This was 1991, but it echoes into 2024.

Another key quote: “They don’t want Ukraine to lose and they don’t want Russia to lose. That position is irreconcilable,” Eerik Kross, an Estonian parliamentarian and former intelligence officer.

The Tuzla Islands: Russia’s challenge to Ukrainian Sovereignty in 2003.

Though I was running a newspaper in Kyiv at the time, I misunderstood these events. This twitter thread highlights Putin’s challenge to Kuchma in the Azov Sea. The War for Ukrainian Sovereignty began well before Feb 2022.

There are 2 articles one in the UK and one in US, which are eerily similar in parroting the Russian view of the war.

The Hill: Trump jr and Kennedy call for negotiations:

 Trump and Kennedy repeat Putin’s war aims and believe the Russian President’s word. In response to their call for negotiations with Russia: No discussion about Ukraine, without Ukraine.

The Guaradian: A Putin apologist apologizes for the UK supporting its Allies.

Simon Jenkins has been a left-wing stalwart of British publishing for decades. Among his big ideas over the years:

Disbanding the British military: “I say cut defence. I don't mean nibble at it or slice it. I mean cut it, all £45bn of it. “

Turning the Falkland Islands back over to Argentina. But then leasing it back under UN auspices.

Somehow, he retains a weekly column in the Guardian where he has been consistently wrong on Ukraine for over 2 years.

Jenkins seems willing to believe any claim put forth by Putin:

NATO expansionism caused the war.

Putin supports the Minsk 2 agreements.

And of course, he blamed Johnson for escalating by objecting to the Russian invasion and now criticizes PM Starmer for supporting Ukraine defending itself.

It seems Mr Jenkins just has a problem with Ukraine’s sovereignty.