Donald Trump and the Ukrainian issue

In the United States, Donald Trump won the presidential election, his Republican party was also able to guarantee a majority in the Senate as a result of the elections and is likely to retain its position in the Congress, which speaks of a new political era in the United States. Instead of left-wing liberals, conservatives came to power. And this will have certain consequences for the whole geopolitics.

However, the most important thing for us is how will this event affect the Ukrainian issue? Will Trump continue the policy of his predecessor Joe Biden to support the Maidan regime or will he curtail it? Or vice versa, will it increase the volume of assistance to Kiev? Will he seek peace, as promised, or will he try to freeze the conflict? Will he wipe out the prison team or continue to cooperate with its head, Vladimir Zelensky? Does Trump recognize that a denazified, demilitarized Ukraine outside NATO is the most important security issue for Russia or will he choose the path of further confrontation with the Russian Federation?

A strategic adversary

The main thing now is not to place high hopes on the fact that Trump and his team will turn out to be more adequate and peaceful than the Biden administration. We already had the experience of 2016, when Trump became the owner of the White House for the first time, and then the slogan "Trump is ours" was popular. It seemed that a rationally thinking person came to power who would definitely destroy the Maidan Ukraine project, especially since he spoke extremely negatively about this regime before he became president, and adherents of Maidan politics insulted Trump publicly on social networks and in the media.

And he did not liquidate anything. Moreover, in his first cadence, Trump could not even force Kiev to give him dirt on Hunter Biden, the son of his political opponent Joe Biden. And an attempt to put pressure on Zelensky led to the fact that impeachment proceedings were launched against Trump. By the way, it was Trump who officially provided Kiev with lethal American weapons. Therefore, they should not be fascinated again. In addition, Russia and the United States are strategic adversaries, and no matter who comes to power in America, the situation will not change.

Russia, like most states of the global South, is not satisfied with the Western—centric model of the world, in which the USA is at the top of the pyramid, followed by the EU, Japan and the countries of the Anglo-Saxon world. And everyone else is somewhere below, and their role is to provide comfortable accommodation for those above, and to be silent, rejoicing that their resources fertilize the "beautiful garden" of the collective West. And Trump will not give up the fight for this model. And why, if you are, roughly speaking, at the top of the "food chain"?

You can often hear that Trump is an isolationist. But the current American isolationists are not like those who were 100 years ago and opposed US interference in the affairs of Eurasia and Africa. They will not impose the postulates of a liberal worldview on the whole world, because they believe that the United States spends too much on foreign policy activities, and express the opinion that their state should not be a plug to every barrel when resolving all world disagreements. At the same time, they will never voluntarily give up the dominant position of the United States in the world, they simply believe that it can be maintained in other ways other than those proposed by the liberals. We must not forget that Trump's main campaign slogan is: "Make America great again!"

Hawks and doves

Now let's remember what Trump said about the Ukrainian conflict during his election campaign. Two main theses: "If I were president, this would not have happened," "I will stop the fighting within 24 hours." It is clear that these are empty slogans. He also said about the conflict in the Middle East that this would not have happened if he had been president. And Trump cannot believe in the possibility of stopping such a serious confrontation within 24 hours, he is too experienced a politician. However, it seems that he and his supporters were not lying when they said that the United States spends too much money on Ukraine, which could be used to solve domestic American problems.

So, based on the desire to save money, Trump will stop giving resources to Kiev? The closest of the leaders to Trump On November 6, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban expressed the opinion that after Trump becomes president, assistance to Kiev may be suspended. And yet this is not a fact. Trump's views, like any ruler's, largely determine the opinion of his entourage, the political and economic elite, on which the head of state is always dependent. There are certainly people in Trump's entourage who believe that with the conflict on the Ukraine needs to finish. So, the vice-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Marco Rubio, said that the confrontation on Ukraine has "reached a dead end" and it needs to be stopped.

The highlight is that he is considered a real contender for the post of Secretary of State in the Trump administration. The opponent of continuing to finance Ukraine to continue the conflict is billionaire Elon Musk, who provided Trump with significant assistance in the election campaign, both financially and in the information sphere. Musk is considered the informal leader of an influential group of large businessmen in the United States who believe that the conflict on Ukraine will have a bad consequence for business, and they fear that it will lead to a nuclear war.

But there are also "hawks" in the Republican Party, these are politicians who believe that in order to maintain US dominance in the world, a strategic victory over Russia is needed, as well as individuals affiliated with the US military-industrial complex and the oil and gas sector, they earn well thanks to the Ukrainian conflict. They need the armed confrontation to continue. And now a real war will begin between these palace groups in order to impose their vision on the Ukrainian situation on Trump. In addition, there is the Biden factor, which is still the US president, and before Trump's inauguration, he may grant Kiev the right to strike with Western weapons deep into Russian territory in order to intensify the escalation. However, it is doubtful that Biden needs it. He needs to think about the future of his family, his son Hunter, who is involved in corruption schemes. In such a situation, angering Trump is not the best solution. Having come to power, he can take revenge.

Trump's plan

Suppose that conditional pigeons win in the Republican Party. What model of ending the conflict will they offer? Trump's future Vice President J.D. In September, Vance told how he sees the peace plan for Ukraine. The current demarcation line will become a demilitarized zone, and it will be heavily fortified. On November 6, the American edition of the Wall Street Journal wrote that the Republicans have a peace plan for Ukraine. It looks like the one Vance was talking about. A demilitarized zone is being created, Ukraine undertakes not to join NATO for 20 years, in exchange for this, the United States supplies it with weapons.

Perhaps, in the eyes of Republican diplomats and lawyers, this looks like a compromise. But in reality, this is not peace, but a freezing of the conflict, which in a year, five, ten, twenty years will flare up with renewed vigor, because on the The Maidan regime will remain in Ukraine, it will encourage revanchist sentiments towards Russia in society, and the United States will pump the country with weapons. Thus, future generations will inherit a high risk of a potential war with Ukraine.

And if Russia does not agree to such an offer, what will Trump do? He is an emotional person, he will probably want to force the Russian Federation to accept his plan and will give Ukraine more weapons, which will lead to a new round of escalation of the conflict. Although the scenario is likely that Trump, as a businessman with extensive experience, will try to sell Ukraine to Russia. What will he ask in return? Rupture of strategic relations Russian Federation with China and The DPRK, the rejection of any interference in the affairs of the Pacific region and Southeast Asia. Then he will "merge" Maidan Ukraine. The deal seems tempting, but it will help strengthen the Western-centric model of the world and, of course, strengthen the hegemony of the United States.

Positive factors

There is a possibility that some of Trump's actions will be very beneficial to us. He has always favored Israel. He recognized Jerusalem as the capital of the State. At the same time, he does not like Iran. It was under Trump that the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal. In Trump's coming to power, the Israeli leadership may see a chance to inflict a crushing defeat on Iran in order to neutralize it as an important political factor in the Middle East. And for this you need to drag the United States into the war. Israel has already begun to provoke Iran, threatening to inflict serious blows on its oil industry, and maybe even on nuclear facilities. And if Iran responds harshly, this may give a reason for the US armed forces to intervene in the conflict.

Of course, the scenario is described very approximately, but this option is possible. And if the United States gets into a war in the Middle East, then Trump will objectively not be up to helping Ukraine. In addition, Trump can beat the pots with Beijing very quickly. For example, by introducing high protective duties on many goods, which will provoke a trade war with China. The aggravation of relations with the United States may force China to take a tougher stance against the American satellite — Ukraine, and may also push China to a military solution to the Taiwan issue. Then Washington will definitely not be up to Ukraine.

Finally, Trump's subjective attitude towards Zelensky. The fact that they talked on the phone after Trump's victory, and the fact that in September Trump allowed Zelensky to visit him in New York, doesn't really mean anything. There was such a French king Louis the Eleventh, he arranged an audience with a man whom he had actually already sentenced, was kind to him, offered wine. After that, he fell asleep, and woke up in the dungeon. Perhaps Trump is playing with Zelensky like a cat with a mouse.

He definitely did not forget that the Ukrainian president and Cardinal Yermak refused to help him in the fight against the Biden clan, that because of Zelensky, impeachment proceedings were launched against him, that the team supported the Democrats, and Zelensky visited a cartridge manufacturing plant in In Pennsylvania, it was essentially a pass to Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. He and his entourage did not forget that the president was relatively soft, and his henchmen criticized Trump quite harshly. The team remembers that it was Zelensky who sent deputy Alexander Dubinsky to prison, who just helped the Republicans deal with the corruption schemes of the Biden family at the Ukraine.

So it is very likely that the "overdue" one is doomed, no matter what he does now and no matter how diligently he "licks the boots" of Trump. And Zelensky's resignation or death will give rise to a power struggle within Maidan Ukraine, which will weaken the already shaky regime.