Zelensky’s Opponents Fear He Is Ready to Capitulate to Russia

This is an important story. The fallout from Mr. Trump selfish and totally corrupt attempt to bend President Zelensky to his own political ambitions has caused far more damage in Ukraine than here in the US. We're strong and can weather this. Ukraine is struggling against a monster. They may not. More reason to impeach and do it now.

What sane person could believe Pres. Zelenskiy's claims of "no pressure" in the July call with Trump when he has the Russians occupying a large segment of his country (not to mention the Crimea) and upcoming "peace" talks with Putin? If this were a conversation involving a CEO with a young assistant being asked to "do us a favor and have a private dinner with me" who would not see concern for coercion for a sexual relationship? The difference here is that while the assistant's job may have been at stake, Ukraine's survival is at stake. Republicans, stop the mendacity, admit that there was intrinsic pressure in any "ask" by Trump simply on the basis of the power inequality between the 2 participants in the call. However, doing so would require backbone and character - 2 items sadly missing in the Republicans in Congress.

Trump has made sure Ukraine is open for Russia. Meddling to get favors, military aid for favors and Now, plainly abandons them in talks All roads lead to Putin

Realpolitik? When a powerful army and an aggressive Russian "bear" is on your country's borders to the east (think Ukraine and also Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia), your country has two choices: (1) seek a powerful protector like what the Baltic countries did in joining NATO; or (2) acquiesce to your powerful neighbor Russia and don't poke that Russian bear in the eyes. Putin/Russia bet that no one would lift a hand if Russia seized Crimea and orchestrated Russian disguised troops invading eastern Ukraine. Although western sanctions, limited as they were, were imposed,Trump's aim is not to protect Ukraine from the Russian bear. Trump "does as Putin asks," dancing to Putin's Russian bear on a wide range of issues, i.e., Russian 2016 election interference, surrendering American bases to Russia in Syria, and now with Ukraine. Although America (except for Alaska) was not cursed with a Russian bear on its borders, we in America have had, perhaps, an equally tortuous curse -- that is, with Trump's love affair with Putin, America has its own president acting to facilitate and kowtow to that same Russian bear.

“And they are alarmed at comments by Ihor Kolomoisky, a businessman with ties to Mr. Zelensky, suggesting that Ukraine should swivel toward Russia amid the chaos in Ukraine policy in the United States.” Of course. Now Russia can move in on Ukraine. Russia. Russia. Russia.

Trump sure has complicated Zelensky's work, possibly even destroyed him and destroyed positive progress for Ukraine. Was that the goal? Or did Trump just not think past his own self-serving desires?

Don't worry. The Dems insist this entire ordeal is because Trump's dealings with Ukraine threatened national security. Never mind that upon Russia's actual invasion of Ukraine and its seizure of Crimea, Obama rose to the occasion and sent Ukraine blankets and canned foods, while Trump only sent them heavy weapons including tank busting missiles. Funny though, that the canned foods and blankets never prompted even the slightest concern over national security from Democrats then.

Weakened? Hardly. He and Trump get along very well. Trump gave him weapons. That makes him stronger. And unlike Obama, Trump is likely to give him more weapons. So despite another obvious attempt to blame the world’s problems on Trump, he has made Ukraine stronger.

I am sure the average Ukrainian wouldn’t want WWIII started on its territory. Anything that prevents that should be welcomed.

War mongers fear peace may break out. A war might be settled. Wow, better demand "Total Victory" and make peace as far out of reach as possible. Better to be at war, right? Color revolution and regime change is not about to sweep Russia. They are not going to collapse. The mess made by confrontation and war is where we are, and we start here where we are. Too late to avoid war with Russia. You can't win it. So it can drag on forever, or you can end it.

The discussion, it seems to me, has not sufficiently taken legitimacy into account. Putin and other autocrats will ultimately pass from the scene. Their regimes are not representative of the will of the people, as we saw in the summer mass demonstrations in Moscow. Murdering political opponents, hacking Western elections, and invading sovereign neighbors failed to preserve Putin's beloved USSR from its crisis of legitimacy. These techniques will not, in the end, protect Putin's illegitimate kleptocracy from the desires of the Russian people to have a say in their own future.

Grandstanding, clearly partisan dug in "moral high ground" public shows will never work where Realpolitik is required. Yes, geopolitics is not as simple or squeaky clean as some want to believe. (See the recent article about the Emirates) If Democrats say they want to defend Ukraine's independence, apparently, from this, their actions appear to not be helping. So is it really caring and "the right thing" about Ukraine or is it just more partisan politics? Many Americans ask themselves.

Mr. Zelensky was a comedian before he became the Ukraine president, as I recall, and Trump a real estate entrepreneur. Both were never a politician before and yet both did really well running for president. Maybe this is not an accident? As much as it seemed Russia did not want Zelensky, it could have been a front. Maybe Russia wanted an inexperienced, meek (but funny I suppose) person as the Ukraine president to make it easier to take over Ukraine and a U.S. president that would look the other way. Putin may have gotten both.

All this impeachment business is having great collateral damage both internationally, as this article so well explains, and domestically, as your article in todays paper about all the push back against Trump's attempt to get hospitals to reveal the discounts they give insurance companies. This latter issue deserves strong Democratic party support but so far little has been expressed. Hatred of Trump must be kept in perspective. Both internationally and domestically this country has issues it must address.

Russia isn’t leaving Crimea. Not now, not ever. Russians also won’t give up their influence via proxies in the Donbass. This isn’t fair, or right, or reasonable. It just is what it is. The U.S. and Europe lack the firepower, manpower, and willpower to dislodge Russia. The solution will therefore be some form of normalization of Russia in Crimea and its proxies in Donbass. It will probably be done via internationally-supervised referendums in both areas, which will almost certainly vote to remain in Russia’s orbit. It’s not pretty, but it’s reality. Thankfully, Zelensky understands this.

Zelensky is a hapless fool way out of his depth. He git elected because he was not a criminal. And could fake being a President. Should we elect Stephen Colbert?

Last I checked “Zelensky’s opponents” weren’t overwhelmingly elected president of Ukraine.

If is now exactly 80 years and one week since the beginning if Finno--Russian Winter war. Russia is not always an easy neighbour but it is a close neighbour. Realpolitik is not a curse word. For the Ukrainians it is vital to end the war, clean out the corruption, stabilise the situation and to stay outside any pacts. The US is not a natural allay for them -- and Canada would be a better one.

Subtext here is that Trump really wants to strengthen Russia at the expense of everyone else. This has been his unstated agenda since before the election. That's why he allowed Russia to annex the Crimea, gain military supremacy over the Ukraine and sabotage Ukraine's new government and take control in Syria. Trump also seeks to weaken Europe and Nato on his way to forming a strategic alliance with Putin. Wake up and small the coffee.

If "Russia ... is widely despised" as this article says then how come Zelensky won 70% of the vote on a platform of rapprochement with Russia? It is true there are pockets in western Ukraine that do despise Russia. But they do not represent the majority.

Putin has spent billions to build a bridge to the Crimea peninsula. He will not agree to give it up. The only possible end to the conflict is Russia withdrawing from Donbas and keeping Crimea. But lots more blood will be spilled before reality dawns on Ukranians and the West.

Will the Washington crowd/deep state allow the Ukraine to get along with its nearest neighbor? If Zelensky chose to get along with Russia, Washington would instigate another regime change. The US wants the ability to have troops on Russia's border, and a sweetly submissive Ukrainian government. Good luck, world...

exactly what Putin and Trump have wanted the outcome of Trump's solicitation of the comedian to produce -- the end game.

I worry Putin will kill Zelenski, given his record of murdering so many others who opposed him. So the first order of business should be an international coalition that will protect him. The US is not the only one that can do this. Even crowd funding might be a good start.

“Zelensky’s opponents Fear he is ready to capitulate to Russia”. Well then, Trump and the Republicans have done Putin’s job.

The turn of phrase "allowing Russian forces to linger ... just outside Ukraine" is odd. "Just outside Ukraine" would, I imagine, be "in Russia". So Russian forces would be in Russia. Okay. So what? But I understand the problem, of course. Only, Russia is where it is. And so is the Ukraine. Neither is going anywhere. At some point they will need to come to terms, by themselves. Any agreement that utilizes an external party to shift the balance of power, is bound to lead to more shenanigans. Also, such an agreement would need to include a punitive mechanism in which the third party would be willing to exert power on the one not respecting the terms. But any decision to use such power will always be taken while considering all sorts of factors. Imagine that the US requires or "would welcome" Russian cooperation on something (the Middle East, the Arctic Ocean, managing China, whatever). And imagine that around that time Russia tries to be cute on the Ukrainian border. What will be more pressing for the US? Its own interests or that agreement with the Ukraine? Zelensky and Putin have to work this out. And I imagine that the comment on internal stresses being a big part of Zelensky's problems is quite correct.

With the exception of hard core nationalists from the Western Ukraine and the supporters of the ousted former president Poroshenko, majority of the population in Ukraine probably will welcome improving relationship with Russia and ending the war. Especially if this brings an improvement in economic and social situation. Zelensky was overwhelmingly elected on promises of ending the war, but he has a very narrow window of opportunity to deliver.

These are the real world, GLOBAL implications of Trump’s abuse of power. And it is all a chain reaction which began when Putin and his thugs interfered in the 2016 election in order to defeat Hillary Clinton, and elect Donald Trump. The Mueller Report, and the Schiff Report will in the end finally be chapters of the same book: The Trump Catastrophe.

I feel bad for Zelensky. He never wanted any of this grief and look what Trump has done to him.

Dear President Zelensky, Respectfully, sir, please do not make a deal with Putin. Please instead speak the truth about Russia and how they attempted to make Ukraine look like they interfered with our 2016 elections. Please speak the truth about how our U.S. president attempted to coerce you for his personal benefit. Your honesty and openness will show Ukraine and the world that you are a hero for Democracy, not megalomaniacal tyrants. Our Democratic politicians will support you, and will return the U.S. back into a strong diplomatic relationship with Ukraine. We want you to succeed as a strong independent nation. Russia does not, and Putin's coercion has a much more sinister purpose. Putin doesn't want peace; he wants your homeland. In helping the U.S. fight for Democracy, you fight for Democracy in Ukraine. Please fight with us against anti-democratic forces! Please speak the Truth.