So now, after more than a decade of pretending that he is not associated with Russia and that he would honor the U.S. national security position of support for Ukraine and our European allies, Trump is openly backing Russia’s president Vladimir Putin.
asserted
Trump → pretend → president
Asked today by a reporter about concerns that his dropping of sanctions against Russian oil yesterday would funnel money to Putin’s war on Ukraine, Trump blamed Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky for prolonging the war:
“Zelensky could have settled this war many times.
uncertain
Zelensky → ask → war
Many, many times,” Trump said, “And he chooses not to.”
asserted
he → say → ?
Trump blamed Zelensky for the high cost of diesel because Ukrainian forces have targeted Russian oil refineries, although since Russian oil was sanctioned, the actual chokepoint for diesel prices is the Strait of Hormuz, largely closed because of Trump’s war on Iran.
asserted
chokepoint → blame → Iran
Trump accused Zelensky of wanting “to make problems for the world.
asserted
Trump → accuse → world
He wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers, with diesel fuel, because Russia supplies a large portion of the diesel fuel throughout the world.”
asserted
Russia → want → world
Ukrainians have hit Russian oil refineries to stop the flow of money into Russia as it evades sanctions and sells oil through its so-called shadow fleet.
asserted
it → hit → fleet
Russia, in contrast, has been striking civilian targets in violation of the laws of war.
asserted
Russia → strike → war
Trump continued with a warning to Zelensky, saying “he’d better damn well stop.”
asserted
he → continue → Zelensky
Ukraine continues to fight against Russia because Russia has invaded Ukraine and is trying to occupy Ukraine’s eastern industrial area in violation of the United Nations charter that vows no country will use threats or force against another’s territorial integrity.
asserted
country → continue → integrity
Until Trump took office, the United States was the key guarantor of this principle.
asserted
States → take → principle
The U.S. has stood against Russia’s 2014 and 2022 invasions of Ukraine not only because of the principle of territorial sovereignty, but also because of security guarantees the U.S., along with the United Kingdom and Russia, gave to Ukraine in 1994.
asserted
U.S. → stand → 1994
After the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991, Ukraine had the third-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world.
asserted
Ukraine → crumble → world
In exchange for Ukraine’s giving up those weapons, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia agreed to secure Ukraine’s borders.
asserted
States → give → borders
In the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, they agreed they would not use military force or economic coercion against Ukraine.
asserted
they → agree → Ukraine
Then Russian leader Vladimir Putin worked to bring Ukraine under the sway of the Russian oligarchs who rose to replace the region’s communist leaders, monopolizing formerly publicly held industries as those industries were privatized.
asserted
industries → work → industries
American journalist Paul Klebnikov, the chief editor of Forbes in Russia, was murdered in 2004 after calling attention to what the oligarchs were doing.
asserted
oligarchs → murder → what
In that same year, a Russian-backed politician, Viktor Yanukovych, appeared to be elected president of Ukraine.
asserted
politician → back → Ukraine
But the election was so full of fraud—including the poisoning of a key rival who wanted to break ties with Russia and align Ukraine with Europe—the government voided the election and called for a do-over.
asserted
government → include → over
Yanukovych needed a makeover fast, and for that he called on an American political consultant with a reputation for making unsavory characters palatable to the media: Paul Manafort.
asserted
characters → need → media
For ten years, from 2004 to 2014, Manafort worked for Yanukovych and his party, trying to make what the U.S. State Department called a party of “mobsters and oligarchs” look legitimate.
asserted
called → work → mobsters
He made a fortune thanks to his new friends.
asserted
He → make → friends
In 2010, Yanukovych finally won the presidency on a platform of rejecting NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization through which Europe joined together to oppose first the USSR, and then the rising threat of Russia.
asserted
Europe → win → Russia
Immediately, Yanukovych turned Ukraine toward Russia.
asserted
Yanukovych → turn → Russia
Then, in 2014, after months of popular protests, Ukrainians ousted Yanukovych from power in what is known as the Revolution of Dignity.
asserted
what → oust → Dignity
He fled to Russia.
asserted
He → flee → Russia
Shortly after Yanukovych’s ouster, Russia invaded Ukraine’s Crimea and annexed it, prompting the United States and the European Union to impose economic sanctions on Russia itself and also on specific Russian businesses and oligarchs, prohibiting them from doing business in the United States and in its territories.
asserted
Russia → invade → territories
These sanctions hurt Russia and froze the assets of key Russian oligarchs, including Putin.
asserted
sanctions → hurt → Putin
Now without his main source of income, Manafort owed about $17 million to allies of Yanukovych and Putin, especially Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
asserted
Manafort → owe → Yanukovych
By 2016, his longtime friend and business partner Roger Stone was advising the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, and Manafort was happy to step in to help.
asserted
Manafort → advise → Trump
He did not take a salary.
asserted
He → take → salary
He began as an advisor in March 2016 and became the campaign chairman in late June, after meeting on June 9 with Don Jr., Jared Kushner, and Russian operatives.
asserted
He → begin → Jr.
It turned out that Russia was looking for a way to grab the Ukrainian land it wanted without continuing to fight.
asserted
it → turn → land
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 2019 report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election explained that Manafort and his partner, Russian operative Konstantin Kilimnik, in summer 2016 “discussed a plan to resolve the ongoing political problems in Ukraine by creating an autonomous republic in its more industrialized eastern region of Donbas, and having [Russian-backed Viktor] Yanukovych, the Ukrainian President ousted in 2014, elected to head that republic.”
asserted
Yanukovych → explain → republic
The Mueller Report continued: “That plan, Manafort later acknowledged, constituted a ‘backdoor’ means for Russia to control eastern Ukraine.”
asserted
Russia → continue → Ukraine
The region that Putin wanted was the country’s industrial heartland.
asserted
Putin → want → that
He was offering a “peace” plan that would carve off much of Ukraine and make it subservient to him.
asserted
it → offer → him
This was the exact opposite of U.S. policy for a free and united Ukraine, and there was no chance that former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who was running for the presidency against Trump, would stand for it.
asserted
who → unite → it
But if Trump were elected, the equation changed.
asserted
equation → elect → ?
According to the Republican-dominated Senate Intelligence Committee, Kilimnik wrote: “[a]ll that is required to start the process is a very minor ‘wink’ (or slight push) from D[onald] T[rump] saying ‘he wants peace in Ukraine and Donbass back in Ukraine’ and a decision to be a ‘special representative’ and manage this process.”
uncertain
he → accord → process
…and 25 more, not listed.
The Aporia
