Weekly Mind Dump: Putin...er...Trump Scotches Ukraine Aid
And - Slovakia abruptly reverses course. And - What do Trump and Sammy the Bull have in common - You have to ask?
Who Torpedoed Ukraine Aid?
Just before Christmas, I wrote a lengthy updated account “Russia, if you’re listening...” of how, I and others, including former U.S. intelligence community leaders, believe Trump is and has been a Russian intelligence asset going back decades. The hard and circumstantial evidence is convincing and one day, hopefully soon, all will come out, with Donald Trump supplanting Benedict Arnold as the icon of American treason.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and investigative journalist author Tim Weiner concludes that “Putin had pulled off the most audacious political warfare operation since the Greeks pushed a gigantic wooden horse up to the gates of Troy.” And once in the White House, by constantly denying that Putin’s political warfare against the United States had occurred, “Trump would prove to be a priceless asset for the Russians’ war on democracy and the rule of law.”
Then there’s the glaring money trail. New York Times financial editor David Enrich writes that Deutsche Bank was “laundering money for wealthy Russians and people connected to Putin and the Kremlin in a variety of ways for almost the exact time period that they were doing business with Donald Trump. And all of that money through Deutsche Bank was being channeled through the same exact legal entity in the U.S. that was handling the Donald Trump relationship in the U.S. And so there are a lot of coincidences here.” Furthermore, a Reuters investigation found that at least 63 Russians bought at least $98.4 million worth of property in seven Trump-branded luxury towers in southern Florida, one Putin oligarch paying Trump double for a property he had had a hard time selling.
Finally, according to the New York Times’ research, “Donald J. Trump and 18 of his associates had at least 140 contacts with Russian nationals and WikiLeaks, or their intermediaries, during the 2016 campaign and presidential transition.” My friend, retired CIA ops officer John Sipher, wrote in the Washington Post, “Even Trump’s most fervent supporters have been unable to provide an innocent explanation for why a domestic political campaign would need such deep engagement with a hostile foreign power.
Read my December piece for more details.
So, after much sturm und drang, Republicans and Democrats in Congress finally managed to hammer out a deal on tightening up border control. Approval would then free up $61 billion of desperately needed aid for Ukraine. Then, like the emperor Nero (another deranged leader), Trump turns his thumb down on the deal, causing all of his undead GOP thralls on the Hill and gutless leaders like Mitch McConnell to cave. The consensus is that Trump cynically wants the migration crisis on the southern border to continue, the more to shame President Biden as an ineffective leader. Meanwhile, Ukraine loses out, bringing cheers and joy inside the Kremlin.
I posit the following question: Given what we know about Trump being Putin’s marionette, who actually nixed the bill — the former or the latter?
Whipsnapping Reversal in Slovakia’s Ukraine Policy
In a January 24 meeting between new Prime Minister Slovak Robert Fico and his Ukrainian counterpart, Denys Shmyhal, the former reversed key elements of policy toward Kyiv. Notably, he reversed his earlier ban on Slovak arms exports to Ukraine. He also said he would approve a 50 billion euro aid package and support Kyiv's bid to join the European Union. Bratislava, furthermore, will give the green light for Slovak commercial interests to deliver equipment to help Ukraine build defense lines; enhance military-technical cooperation; assist in returning deported Ukrainian children; cooperate on nuclear safety; contribute to rebuilding Ukraine; and assist in demining, rails development and agricultural cooperation. Fico, however, said that he does not support Ukraine’s joining NATO at this time.
This is the same Robert Fico who declared before his electoral victory last October, “We won’t send another bullet to Kyiv.”
So what happened? Presiding over a largely pro-Russia population, Fico, as leader of an EU- and NATO-member country, must walk a fine line. With his forced Ron DeSantis smile, built like an electrical transformer box and with all the warmth and charisma of a box of ball-peen hammers, he nonetheless apparently has the foresightfulness to know that cultivating friendship with a contiguous neighbor struggling for its survival is also in his own country’s best long-term interests, Moscow-be-damned. Whatever, we friends of Ukraine must applaud his policy change.
This positive development for Ukraine is also testament to President Zelensky’s and his team’s dazzling diplomatic prowess. Yes, Slava Ukraini!
Two Thugs in a Tub. Rub A Dub Dub
I must confess that I thoroughly enjoyed reading ex-Mafia hitman Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano’s 1997 bestselling biography, Underboss, though it was hardly a guilt-free pleasure given that Sammy had whacked at least 19 people during his long criminal career. But I assuaged my feelings by the realization at, as far as I could tell, they all had it coming — in particular, Gambino boss Paul Castellano and super-low life Nicholas “Nicky Cowboy” Mormando.
But I digress. . .
Gravano, who served two prison terms — the last one 20 years for marketing ecstasy along with family members in the southwest — is one of those entertaining rapscallions whose gruff, unguarded personality appeals to many (I confess, even myself, at least for a while). And I could somewhat identify with him in one way: he had risen in the ranks from hitman to consigliere to underboss, just as I had risen in the Foreign Service ranks from junior officer to Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires. Sorry, I’m digressing again.
So, why were we seeing headlines last week like, “Trump Thanks Mob Hitman Sammy ‘The Bull’ Gravano for Apparent Character Reference”?
Gravano told an interviewer, “I tried a couple times to press him, and make arrangements where I could work with him. I did that with other big contractors. I had the power of the unions. I could do all kinds of little things, but I couldn’t get to him. He wouldn’t bite.” He called Trump a “legitimate guy.”
Trump wrote in response, “Thank you to Sammy the Bull. I hope Judges Engoron & Kaplan see this. We need fairness, strength and honesty in our New York Courts. We don’t have it now!”
The two, you may have noticed, have some things in common, notably, Trump rivals Gravano in the number of felony counts he’s facing. Need I say more?
The opinions and characterizations in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent official positions of the U.S. government.