Editor’s Note: This feature separates Ukraine’s friends from its enemies. The Order of Yaroslav the Wise has been given since 1995 for distinguished service to the nation. It is named after the Kyivan Rus leader from 1019-1054, when the medieval empire reached its zenith. The Order of Lenin was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union, whose demise Russian President Vladimir Putin mourns. It is named after Vladimir Lenin, whose corpse still rots on the Kremlin’s Red Square, more than 100 years after the October Revolution he led.
Ukraine’s Friend of the Week: Donald Tusk
The president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, stood out as a statesman at the Aug. 24-26 G7 summit in Biarritz, France, in start contrast to the buffoonery of another Donald, Trump of the United States.
He called for the “defense of liberal democracy, rule of law and human rights, in particular in the context of the revival of nationalisms and new forms of authoritarianism, as well as threats coming from the development of digital technologies (meddling in elections, fake news, using artificial intelligence against citizens and their freedoms).”
He called for an end to trade wars and warned that Trump’s rejection of the nuclear deal with Iran “hasn’t brought about any positive results.”
But most importantly, the Polish diplomat called out Russia for its aggression against Ukraine and slapped Trump’s desire to allow the Kremlin back into the G7.
“Under no condition can we agree with this logic” that Russia’s annexation of Ukraine is partly justified. “When it comes to speculation around inviting Russia to the table I would like to say this. First: the reasons why Russia was disinvited in 2014, are still valid. What is more, there are new reasons, such as the Russian provocation on the Azov Sea. Second: when Russia was invited to G7 for the first time, it was believed that it would pursue the path of liberal democracy, rule of law, and human rights. Is there anyone among us, who can say with full conviction, not out of business calculation, that Russia is on that path?”
He then suggested it would be better to invite Ukraine as a guest to the next G7 summit to be hosted in the United States. He said he talked to Volodymyr Zelensky about the idea, and found the Ukrainian president receptive.
For saying what needed to be said, Tusk is Ukraine’s friend of the week and winner of the Order of Yaroslav the Wise.
Ukraine’s Foe of the Week: Donald Trump
For the first time in Kyiv Post history, we’ve made the same person Ukraine’s foe of the week for two consecutive weeks.
But Donald Trump, the U.S. president, is richly deserving of the distinction.
At the Aug. 24-26 G7 Summit in France, he deepened his inexplicable love affair with Russian President Vladimir Putin by saying that he wanted the Kremlin dictator as a guest at next year’s summit to be hosted by the United States.
And then word came this week from Politico that Trump is holding up $250 million in military aid to Ukraine that has been approved by Congress.
One hopes this freeze is meant to exert pressure on Ukraine’s government to refuse China’s acquisition of Motor Sich aerospace company, one of the world’s leading makers of airplane and helicopter engines. Ukraine does need to refuse such investment on national security grounds.
But a more sinister possibility is that this a continuation of the effort by Trump surrogates, chiefly lawyer and ex-New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to carry out investigations into whether ex-U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden sought to kill an investigation into corruption at Burisma, an energy company that his son, Hunter Biden, served on the board of directors. Another pet project of the Trump administration is accusing Ukraine of interfering in the 2016 presidential election on behalf of Hillary Clinton.
Whatever the reason, holding up much-needed military aid for a friend at war is another of many actions that show Trump is Putin’s patsy.
And it could get worse for Trump. Investigators and Democratic critics of Trump in Congress are interested in getting the president’s financial records from Deutsche Bank, and what those records might show about his connections to Russia or Russians. Trump has refused to release his tax records while Deutsche Bank, according to The New York Times, has a long history laundering money for wealthy Russians.
Washington Post columnist David Von Drehle can’t figure out Trump’s attraction either, aside from the money angle. “The Putin mafia has funneled billions into high-end real estate in major cities around the world, and a pile of it wound up with the Trump Organization. During his investigation, then-special counsel Robert S. Mueller III found that Trump was secretly angling to build a Trump tower in Moscow at the same time that he was running for president in 2016,” Von Drehle wrote on Aug. 27.
“Reasonable heads of state can see that Putin is a spent force. His popularity is plunging. Protesters routinely swarm the streets of Moscow. The Russian economy is as dead as a Siberian winter. The lame coverup of a recent nuclear accident rings echoes of Chernobyl and the dying gasps of Putin’s beloved wreck — the Soviet Union,” Von Drehle wrote on Aug. 27. “At this point, Putin fits better in a Group of Three alongside his friends Bashar al-Assad, the barrel-bombing butcher of Syria, and Nicolás Maduro, from the failed state of Venezuela.”
As long as Trump continues trying to rehabilitate Putin, he will be a foe of Ukraine and so, for the second straight week, wins the Order of Lenin.
