Simon Tisdall writes:

In Graham Greene’s 1955 novel, The Quiet American, Alden Pyle, a CIA agent, reckons he has all the answers to conflict in colonial era Vietnam. Pyle’s ignorance, arrogance and dangerous scheming, intended to bring peace, result instead in the deaths of many innocents and ultimately his own. In today’s too-real, nonfiction world, Donald Trump is Pyle. Except he’s The Noisy American.

He thinks he’s a great deal-maker. He never stops trumpeting his brilliance. Yet his North Korea “deal of the century” was a fiasco. He handed Afghanistan to the Taliban on a plate. Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu runs rings around him. Now Trump-Pyle proposes another rubbish deal – selling out Ukraine. America’s very own surrender monkey is Vladimir Putin’s useful idiot. No matter how officials spin it, Trump’s concessions, made before ceasefire talks with Russia even begin, are calamitous, primarily for Ukraine but also for Europe’s security, the transatlantic alliance, and other vulnerable targets, such as Taiwan. As stated, Trump’s giveaways – accepting the loss of sovereign Ukrainian territory to Russian aggression, denying Nato membership to Kyiv, withholding US security guarantees and troops – are shameful appeasement, amounting to betrayal.

It was Putin, remember, who launched an unprovoked, murderous full-scale invasion three years ago. But Trump suggests that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine’s brave, battered people are somehow to blame. He even regurgitates Kremlin calls for fresh elections in Kyiv. Such hypocritical cant from a regime that routinely subverts other countries’ polls is beyond sickening. But Trump the duplicitous dupe willingly buys it. Putin surely cannot believe his luck. By chatting chummily on the phone for 90 minutes, praising Russia’s “genius” tyrant for his “common sense”, and inviting him to a Saudi summit, Trump rehabilitated a pariah and pulled the rug from under Nato allies. Putin gave nothing back. He thinks he’s winning, on the battlefield, politically and diplomatically. He’s right. Worse, Moscow continues to demand that any lasting deal address “structural issues”. These include Ukraine’s disarmament, non-aligned status, the “denazification” of its leadership, and even its existence as an independent state, which Putin abhors. Russia wants to re-order Europe’s security architecture, shorthand for weakening, dividing and pushing back Nato. [Continue reading…]

The Washington Post reports:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected a Trump administration request this past week that Kyiv hand over 50 percent of its mineral resources — an extraordinary demand that could significantly overshadow the value of aid that has been sent to Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials are working on a counterproposal that would still offer Washington more access to the country’s natural resources but would bolster U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine, seven people familiar with the discussions said.

Zelensky told reporters Saturday that he had not agreed to the Trump administration’s proposal “because it’s not ready yet.” He said that security guarantees were not part of the U.S. proposal, and that Ukraine needed that in any agreement with the United States.

“We can consider how to distribute profits when security guarantees are clear. So far, I have not seen that in the document,” he told reporters at an annual gathering of U.S. and European security elite.

The request came when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent visited Kyiv on Wednesday, becoming the first Trump Cabinet official to meet the Ukrainian leader, according to three senior Ukrainian officials, two European diplomats and two more people familiar with the situation. They and others spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk frankly about the sensitive issue.

The offer and Ukraine’s consideration of it rippled through European diplomatic circles not only for its audacity but also because the war-ravaged country appeared to be seriously considering how to reach a deal in the hope of a commitment from the United States to help defend against Russia’s aggression.

One senior Ukrainian official joked that the country’s leaders would consider nearly anything to maintain U.S. support, including, the official said, a massive shipment of Ukrainian eggs. The country has an egg surplus, and leaders there are aware of their skyrocketing cost in the United States.

But another senior Ukrainian adviser described being taken aback by the scale of what the Trump administration demanded. The person compared it to Europeans carving up African colonies in the 18th century, and said it could also lead to the right to develop Ukraine’s resources being signed away for decades with no guarantees that investors would actually develop them. [Continue reading…]