Ukraine Can’t Breathe, ©2025 William L. Brown
It’s been a hard few weeks for one of my students. First, US President Trump and his billionaire sidekick Elon Musk extinguished her USAID-funded job facilitating job-training for displaced youth in Ukraine. Then Russia killed her brother at the eastern front.
A Disgrace to the Oval Office, ©2025 William L. Brown
It was an already hard time, what with Trump mouthing Russian propaganda, publicly lambasting Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in a disastrous White House meeting, and then forcing Ukraine into compliance by cutting off aid and satellite data used for air defense and targeting. For that, and for making the GOP cut off aid for six months last year, Trumps hands are covered in Ukrainian blood.
There’s still the whisper of a chance that Trump will turn to pressuring Russia. That’s if we assume—giving the broadest benefit of a doubt here—that all of Trumps recent gifts to Russia such as restoring diplomatic relations, are part of a secret trade off. Trump made a veiled reference today, "I also think that Russia wants to make a deal because in a certain different way—a different way that only I know, only I know—they have no choice."
Trump’s posturing as a neutral umpire between Russia and Ukraine is undercut by his rant at the end of that meeting. He was responding to the point that Putin and Russia regularly break agreements.
They broke it with Biden because Biden didn‘t respect him. They didn‘t respect Obama. They respect me. Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia ... You ever hear of that deal? That was a phony. That was a phony Hunter Biden, Joe Biden scam. Hillary Clinton, shifty Adam Schiff, it was a Democrat scam. And he had to go through that. And he did go through it. We didn‘t end up in a war. And he went through it. He was accused of all that stuff. He had nothing to do with it. It came out of Hunter Biden‘s bathroom. It came out of Hunter Biden‘s bedroom. It was disgusting. And then they said, oh, oh, the laptop from hell was made by Russia. The 51 agents The whole thing was a scam. And he had to put up with that. He was being accused of all that stuff.
This is not a statement from a neutral party. This is a statement from a resentful, vengeful, grudge-carrying party. He sees Putin as a fellow-sufferer in his persecution.
Shortly after, he said.
The problem is I've empowered you to be a tough guy, and I don't think you'd be a tough guy without the United States. And your people are very brave, but you're either going to make a deal or we're out,…
True to his word, Trump got out - he cut off aid to a democratic ally in the middle of a war with a dictator. And the deal he’s trying to force Ukraine into seems one-sided. The only terms he’s revealed favor Russia.
America’s Back, ©2025 William L. Brown
President Trump began his address to Congress this week with “America’s back!” And that’s what he’s offering our European allies - America’s back.
Europe got the wake-up call, and has gone into emergency sessions, vowing to ramp up defense spending. They are trying to find ways to fill the gap left when Trump cut off Ukraine aid. But, Europe does not yet have enough weaponry to fill that gap. They will have to increase production, and that takes time Ukraine does not have.
They are also stepping up to say they will provide a peace-keeping force in Ukraine - the security guarantee the Trump administration refuses to provide.
It’s a discordant policy. Trump tells Europe it has to handle their own security without American’s help, while saying peace in Ukraine can only be negotiated by his administration.
Ukraine is not meekly giving in to Trump. Ukrainians are smart and resourceful, as we’ve seen all through this war. As the first line of their national anthem goes, “We’re not dead, yet!” [literally: “The glory and will of Ukraine has not yet perished”]
This was a prolific week for drawing, as you can see. And also for posts. Earlier today I posted “Project 2025.” It’s more focused on the US than Ukraine, my usual beat, but it was therapeutic. Maybe it will be for you, too. Contribute some comments.
Readers may have noticed that I’m posting more often. I went to weekly publication. Previously it was monthly or longer, resulting in too-long articles and writers-block.
May next week be better than last week, please.