For months, Donald Trump has held out the promise of a speedy end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine if he were in power.
“If I’m president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours,” he brags. But he’s never explained how. This little omission “makes me really quite stressed”, confessed Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
His worst fears were confirmed this week. The answer came through the medium of Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, after his meeting with Trump in the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Illustration by John ShakespeareCredit:
“He will not give a penny in the Ukraine-Russia war. That is why the war will end,” Orban told Hungary’s M1 TV station.
In case that left any room for doubt, he explained what he described as Trump’s “very clear vision”. Orban said: “It is obvious that Ukraine cannot stand on its own feet. If the Americans don’t give money and weapons, along with the Europeans, then the war is over. And if the Americans don’t give money, the Europeans alone are unable to finance this war. And then the war is over.”
Trump didn’t quibble with Orban’s account. The pair enjoy a mutual admiration based on their shared autocratic tendencies. Orban endorsed Trump for president. Trump returned the favour, calling Orban “fantastic” and “the boss”. Together, they are Boss Bros.
So this is Trump’s brilliant plan for peace. Capitulation. Allow an aggressor to conquer its neighbour and subjugate its people. Peace through capitulation has a name – appeasement.
In the ceaseless cyclone of news, this should be a clarifying moment of stillness. At the eye of the cyclone is this revelation, long suspected but now spoken plainly.
Hungary’s Viktor Orban and ex-US president Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday.Credit: Instagram
Donald Trump would rather help an enemy than a friend
11
0
15.03.2024
For months, Donald Trump has held out the promise of a speedy end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine if he were in power.
“If I’m president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours,” he brags. But he’s never explained how. This little omission “makes me really quite stressed”, confessed Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
His worst fears were confirmed this week. The answer came through the medium of Viktor Orban, the prime........
© The Sydney Morning Herald
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Andrew Mitrovica
Mort Laitner
Nikkei Editorial
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Rami G Khouri
