BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEENEND EDITION FEB. 28-March 2, 2025) — The situation in Ukraine has taken a drastic shift. THE PLANET applauds the change. 

First, the Trump Administration has entered into direct talks with Russia. Trump’s style to problems of policy and execution is direct-line communication with all parties, especially so-called “enemies,” in this case, Vladimir Putin. This represents “a 180” from Joe Biden’s approach: send the Ukraine billions in unaccountable aid and pretend Russia doesn’t exist. 

Second, on Monday, at a meeting of the UN General Assembly, the United States voted with Russia against yet-another Ukrainian resolution blaming Russia for the war and calling for an “immediate withdrawal” of Russian troops. This is the seventh time the toothless resolution has been approved. A lot of good it’s done.

The US vote goes against most of Europe, which backed the resolution. The General Assembly voted 93-18 (65 abstentions) in favor of Ukraine’s resolution. While that looks like a mandate, it actually shows diminishing Ukraine support. More than 140 countries backed a previous vote on the same resolution.

Already, Trump’s approach has yielded dividends. This week, Ukraine agreed to a deal to supply the US with rare-earth minerals. In short, Trump–as always, with the stronger hand–brought Zelensky to the bargaining table.

———- ooo ———-

The UN vote took place as the war enters its fourth year. THE PLANET should note that such resolutions mean little, since they are not binding. They do, however, provide a gauge of world opinion. So why the change in the US position, notwithstanding the new Administration?

America’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Dorothy Shea, made the essential point: Despite being overwhelmingly approved in six previous votes, it has done nothing to stop the war. Another approval represents the definition of insanity.

From the Associated Press:

U.S. deputy ambassador Dorothy Shea, meanwhile, said multiple previous U.N. resolutions condemning Russia and demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops “have failed to stop the war,” which “has now dragged on for far too long and at far too terrible a cost to the people in Ukraine and Russia and beyond.”

“What we need is a resolution marking the commitment from all U.N. member states to bring a durable end to the war,” Shea said before the vote.

Another action at Monday’s meeting sheds light on why the US has sided with Russia here. Russia offered an amendment to the Ukraine petition asking for an examination of the “root causes” of the war. That is what’s been missing in the heretofore unquestioning pro-Ukraine hysteria in America. Why did Russia invade? The stock answer paints Putin as a monster, greedily eyeing the restoration of the Soviet empire. Of course, the actual reasons are far more complex.

These include:

• The unprecedented Eastern expansion of NATO, which not only raises the odds of the US getting dragged by treaty into a world war but also has caused legitimate concerns in Russia of being surrounded and provoked. It would be as if the Warsaw Pact had included the Mexico and Canada.
• Massive corruption in the Ukraine government since the fall of the Soviet Union. A history of that country since its gained official statehood should suffice.
• Years of unprovoked Ukrainian attacks on the populations of the country’s eastern provinces, particularly Donetsk and Luhansk. These areas are overwhelmingly “Russian” in language, culture, and identification yet Ukraine has sought “ethnic loyalty.”
• Ukraine’s weak claim of statehood for a territory that historically has been part of Russia. As Putin puts it: “Let me emphasize once again that Ukraine for us is not just a neighboring country. It is an integral part of our own history, culture, spiritual space.”

THE PLANET reminds all that we should keep at the forefront the humanitarian disaster that has befallen the areas affected by the war. The only rational response is to end the war as quickly as possible. 

Resolutions and all previous attempts by the Biden Administration to do this have failed because they were premised on breaking communications with Russia. Trump’s approach—face to face talks with the Putin Administration—gives the world and humanity its best shot.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

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“Vision is the medium of creativity” — Sir Donald Turpentine, Knight of the Bath.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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