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What the US owes Ukraine and why -- Sabrina Haake
https://sabrinahaake.substack.com/p/what-the-us-owes-ukraine-and-whyTrump is about to get played again by a notorious war criminal, on American soil, without understanding why the US helps Ukraine at all
Dasha Litvinova, Associated Press
On Friday, on American soil, Trump will entertain a brutal war criminal whose critics are poisoned, imprisoned, or dropped from high story windows. As Putin continues reducing Ukraine to rubble, Trump will generate headlines with no grasp of the underlying history at issue.
. . .
Trump is elevating a war criminal
By inviting Putin to meet on US soil, Trump is conferring legitimacy onto a mass murderer who is credibly accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Putin has been isolated since 2023, when the ICC issued arrest warrants for him and several advisors for crimes against humanity. Putin has been unable to travel outside Russia since, because many of the ICC’s 125 member states have agreed to arrest and detain him if he sets foot on their territory.
The crimes for which the ICC issued the warrants include well documented abductions of over 19,000 Ukrainian children aged four months to 17 years. The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab is tracking Russia’s systematic campaign to kidnap Ukrainian children and move them to Russia where they are issued new identities and advertised for adoption after they undergo “re-education” to erase emotional connection to their families, language and heritage. Putin has set up an online “catalog of Ukrainian children,” a photo database searchable by personal characteristics such as size and hair color, as Ukrainian parents wail.
The Alaska ‘summit’ will be Putin’s first international trip since the warrants. European leaders question the invitation while Russians crow over it as a national ‘coup,’ since Trump’s invitation came without any concessions from Putin. A King’s College professor of Russian history said, “The symbolism of holding the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska is horrendous — as though designed to demonstrate that borders can change, land can be bought and sold.”
No one knows for sure what the outcome will be, but it’s a safe bet that Trump will issue platitudes that sound tough on Russia while delivering Putin’s ultimate goal: Cementing his territorial gains in Ukraine, thereby rewarding Russia for its aggression. Zelensky and the EU will reject the plan, Trump will demand the Nobel peace prize, and pundits will continue to wonder if Putin’s get out of jail free card is a product of blackmail.
. . .
Trump is elevating a war criminal
By inviting Putin to meet on US soil, Trump is conferring legitimacy onto a mass murderer who is credibly accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Putin has been isolated since 2023, when the ICC issued arrest warrants for him and several advisors for crimes against humanity. Putin has been unable to travel outside Russia since, because many of the ICC’s 125 member states have agreed to arrest and detain him if he sets foot on their territory.
The crimes for which the ICC issued the warrants include well documented abductions of over 19,000 Ukrainian children aged four months to 17 years. The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab is tracking Russia’s systematic campaign to kidnap Ukrainian children and move them to Russia where they are issued new identities and advertised for adoption after they undergo “re-education” to erase emotional connection to their families, language and heritage. Putin has set up an online “catalog of Ukrainian children,” a photo database searchable by personal characteristics such as size and hair color, as Ukrainian parents wail.
The Alaska ‘summit’ will be Putin’s first international trip since the warrants. European leaders question the invitation while Russians crow over it as a national ‘coup,’ since Trump’s invitation came without any concessions from Putin. A King’s College professor of Russian history said, “The symbolism of holding the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska is horrendous — as though designed to demonstrate that borders can change, land can be bought and sold.”
No one knows for sure what the outcome will be, but it’s a safe bet that Trump will issue platitudes that sound tough on Russia while delivering Putin’s ultimate goal: Cementing his territorial gains in Ukraine, thereby rewarding Russia for its aggression. Zelensky and the EU will reject the plan, Trump will demand the Nobel peace prize, and pundits will continue to wonder if Putin’s get out of jail free card is a product of blackmail.
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