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President Donald Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine leaves a stain on this country that may never be erased. In a desperate bid to stave off disaster in the midterms, he has arranged to buy fuel from Russia. He blames the high price of oil on Ukraine for its drone attacks on Russian refineries; in fact the main reason oil prices have skyrocketed is his ill-considered war of choice against Iran, resulting in a bottleneck at the Strait of Hormuz. The deal gives Russia much-needed funds to pursue its bombing of Ukraine’s civilians and infrastructure (war crimes).
In August, Congress passed a law that provides for more economic sanctions against Russia. The bill, signed by the president, was named after the late Sen. Lindsay Graham, a strong supporter of Ukraine and a golfing buddy of Trump’s. Will Congress stand up to defend its prerogatives and what’s right? I’m not confident.
In 1994, when world leaders were concerned about nuclear proliferation, Ukraine was persuaded to give up its significant stockpile of nuclear weapons in return for security guarantees from the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia. Russia, quite obviously, has broken that agreement with its attacks on Ukraine, invading and annexing Crimea in 2014 and sending its tanks toward Kiev in 2022. Now the U.S. is abrogating that agreement as well by withholding support from Ukraine.
If laws and international guarantees are now meaningless, where are we?
Christina Diebold
Bangor