This just happened at the United Nations. And it certainly is a moment in the whole discussion of where the U.S. is right now. Vis-à-vis the European allies and Ukraine. There was a resolution that passed at the United Nations marking the three years, three years of the war, and the U.S. did not vote yes. The U.S. voted no.
And among the other countries that voted no were North Korea, Russia, Hungary, and Belarus. And the list goes on. And what this resolution said was that Russia invaded Ukraine and also did have language in there that suggested that Russia should leave Ukraine, and it should go back to the borders before Russia invaded.
This is really amazing that the U.S. is now on record in the United Nations, on the side of North Korea and Russia when it comes to language. So it’s just a resolution marking it. It doesn’t really do anything in resolution. This is a U.S.-drafted resolution that did not identify Russia as the aggressor.
US joins Russia to vote against UN resolution condemning Russia’s war against Ukraine
That was a separate one that they tried, which didn’t which didn’t, pass. You’re right. There was a separate resolution. But as the language is upgraded, the U.S. says we’re not going to. That’s exactly right. We’re not going to call Russia, which is why they voted no at the U.N. Yeah, but I think when you take that in conjunction with Vance’s remarks at the Munich Security Conference, which is, of course, a very important sort of international event where he really focused on sort of these cultural issues,
and late into Europe quite strongly, it seems like what we’re seeing is a repositioning of the United States away from the nation’s traditional allies in Europe and towards Russia. And it’s just, it’s very, it’s remarkable. Yeah. And I think that’s totally right. When you look at the big picture in the immediate term, what Trump is trying to do is get a deal to end the war, which he did.
To be fair, he did campaign on. But the way he’s approaching it is going all in on the Russian language, frankly, Russian propaganda. And, it almost reminds me of it, of back after January 6th, where it’s like what you saw, what actually happened didn’t really happen in order to get what he wants. It’s a kind of Jedi mind trick to get you to forget the facts that when we all kind of saw ahead of us, that obviously showed Russia’s aggression leading to this conflict, I think he says right on the big picture.
US rejects UN resolution condemning Russia’s war
It is a repositioning, but it’s a repositioning in which the Trump administration has sought to do because that kind of transactional nature, if we don’t know who’s our friend and who’s our foe, we can change day to day, is what he sees as his negotiating power. But I think the larger kind of world sees it as just kind of Trump’s personality.
Right. Like the flattery works, he may have turned against others, but he’s been fairly consistent in terms of parroting Russian language, as you’ve said, which has caused alarms, I think even within his own party. The only thing I would add, though, is if I remember back to the electorate, last year there was a big turn against foreign aid, against investing in Ukraine.
And I think even the framing of that as European interests rather than American interests is one that Donald Trump has seized on to be able to create a wedge between his kind of portion of the electorate, which I don’t think is just a MAGA base, but I think it’s kind of across from a graphic one that has not seen the biggest, probably.
US joins Russia, North Korea and Belarus to vote against
I think that’s a really important point, and I don’t think it’s something that we can lose sight of, you know, America first, whatever that means. If you, depending on what flavor of it you’re talking about, do have support beyond the base. But the distinction matters about whether Ukraine feels like an American interests. Right.
Can America first can lead you to invest and support? But that’s not what they’ve done. But is there a way to follow up on those campaign promises? Pull back from Ukraine and not be falling all over himself to parrot Russia? Just listen to what Steve Wyckoff said. Well, actually, first, let’s assume that Pete Hugest, followed by Steve Wyckoff, who’s the president’s envoy to the Middle East, but he’s involved in these issues there, say Russia attacked unprovoked into Ukraine three years ago tomorrow.
Fair to say, it’s a very complicated situation. The war didn’t need to happen. It was provoked. It doesn’t necessarily mean it was provoked by the Russians. There were all kinds of conversations back then about Ukraine joining NATO. The president has spoken about this. That didn’t need to happen.
US joins Russia, North Korea and Belarus to vote against
That’s what I’m talking about, right? It’s giving away the game entirely. and at least it is pretty explicit. It’s pretty obvious what’s happening. Some of this, I fear, is about illiteracy on the part of the voters not knowing, for example, about the spending that’s going to Ukraine, which is actually funding American technology.
Right? Funding American manufacturing plants. And by the time you do learn those facts, it’s too late. But I do think, look, not to out us here, Donna, but you and I are both old enough to remember when Mitt Romney got up and said Russia was the central, you know, enemy of the United States. You remember that? You okay? I’m adding everybody at the table.
Ryan’s right about it in the history. Yeah. But, and so to see the silence from so many, the vast majority of Republicans in Congress, people who have been such staunch foreign policy hawks for so long, who have raised alarms about Russia for over a decade, is just unbelievably striking.
