Former Fox News personality says Ukraine just has to submit.
Donald Trump’s newly appointed defence secretary told allies on his first international trip that the US was no longer “primarily focused” on European security and that Europe would have to take the lead in defending Ukraine.
Pete Hegseth, speaking to defence ministers at a lunchtime meeting in Brussels, said Europe had to provide “the overwhelming share” of future military aid to Kyiv – and recognise that restoring Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders was unrealistic.
The Pentagon chief said he was “here today to directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe”, though the language was notably toned down from a draft briefed in advance to the press.
This is a tv personality, remember, not someone with decades of experience relevant to being a top government official.
He also reiterated Trump’s position that “stopping the fighting and reaching an enduring peace” in Ukraine is a top priority – and that Kyiv must recognise that it cannot win back all the land occupied by Russia.
“We must start by recognising that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective,” Hegseth said, sketching out an initial position for any peace negotiations with Russia.
“Chasing this illusory goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering,” he added, though this could be interpreted as effectively acknowledging the annexation of Crimea, and large parts of the Donbas by Russia.
This could be interpreted as effectively handing Crimea and large parts of the Donbas to Russia on a plate.
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9 responses to “Amateur hour”
‘Sudeten Russia.’
Peace in our time.
“The center cannot hold.”
Could be interpreted? Is there any other interpretation? The Russians are sure to read it that way.
Worse, Russia has shown again and again that they don’t give a rat’s ass about any treaty they may have signed in the past. They’ll just use the break from war to rebuild their military, and go at it again.
My echoing of the Guardian’s “could be” was definitely sarcastic.
The only ends to this war are the complete genocide of the Ukrainian nation (Putin’s dream) or the complete failure of Russia’s invasion. There is no end to this war with Russia partially in control of Ukraine in 2025, any more than there was in 2014. Any line that’s supposedly drawn will be crossed by Russia in a few years, and Ukraine has no basis to believe any guarantee by the USA will be honored. Ukraine already knows this, because of Budapest and Minsk, neither worth the paper it was printed on. Hegseth is a moron with no understanding of history or international politics, but what his bosses are telling him to do is to kick the can down the road and pretend that’s saving us money.
The tricky part is that the USA can’t really negotiate with Russia on behalf of Ukraine. The USA can only negotiate what the USA will do. We can choose between supporting democracy and freedom in Ukraine or kneeling to Putin’s fascistic imperialism. Looks like Hegseth brought his knee pads.
Sorry, I didn’t notice. I guess I read it too fast, and there were distractions.
In a fine display of Jujutsu, Zelenskyy offered to swap Kursk for occupied Ukrainian territory.
The Kremlin (of course) immediately refused.
Why fight fascistic imperialism abroad when we’ve got some at home?