In an effort to stop the war in Eastern Europe, the United States has paused all military aide to Ukraine.
The development follows a whirlwind of developments that started Friday and bled into the weekend, triggered by a train wreck of a meeting on Friday between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zelensky visited the White House to sign a mineral-rights deal the Trump administration had proposed as a way to recover the billions in aid the U.S. has provided over the last three years for Ukraine’s war with Russia. But the meeting focused on talk of ending the war, which Zelensky was resistant to do on what he perceived as Russian terms. He spent significant time making the case for the evilness of Vladimir Putin, and implied Ukraine needed more war support and less peace mediation. On Sunday, Zelensky said the war’s end “is still very, very far away,” triggering Trump to cite that as another example of why the U.S. needs to stop providing support. Trump said, “This guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing….”
Zelensky also said during Friday’s meeting that diplomacy will not work without security assurances from the U.S. He rattled off a list of treaties the Kremlin has broken over the years. Trump hinted that if the U.S. had business interests in Ukraine, it would automatically come with some form of security measures.
Friday’s Fiasco
Friday’s meeting went off the rails after Vice President J.D. Vance accused Zelensky of being ungrateful and told him he should be happy about the possibility of ending a conflict that is destroying his country. The meeting quickly devolved from there. Trump pointed out to Zelensky a fact he seemed oblivious to: He doesn’t have any leverage to make demands. While his soldiers have been brave and tough, they’ve been wholly reliant on U.S. weapons. Moreover, Trump added, Ukraine isn’t winning. Vance pointed out that Ukraine is having a difficult time conscripting soldiers. And perhaps the most significant point was that continuing that quagmire could lead to World War III. “You’re gambling with World War III,” Trump famously bellowed multiple times.
Trump kicked Zelensky out of the White House before they were set to have lunch, and the mineral-rights deal was never signed. Zelensky maintains to this point that he’s ready to sign the deal nonetheless. Trump hinted Monday afternoon the minerals deal is likely still on the table.
Before meeting with Trump, Zelensky met with a group of majority Democrats and some neocon warmongers. He was advised to reject the terms of the mineral deal, according to Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), as reported by the New York Post.
An important visit to the United States. In Washington, I met with a bipartisan delegation from the U.S. Senate.
Our discussions focused on the continued military assistance for Ukraine, relevant legislative initiatives, my meeting with President Trump, efforts to achieve a just… pic.twitter.com/KJcosUpygc— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 28, 2025
U.S., Ukrainian Politicians Call for Zelensky to Resign
After Friday’s meeting, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) suggested that Zelensky resign, pointing out that he’s serving as president longer than provided for when elected. Ukraine had put off the elections scheduled for spring 2024, citing the war. The country is in a state of martial law, which doesn’t allow for elections. Nevertheless, even back home there are rumblings of replacing Zelensky. Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandr Dubinsky called for an “’emergency session of the Ukrainian Parliament’ to initiate impeachment proceedings against Zelensky.” Dubinsky accused Ukraine’s president of “strategic missteps and poor leadership contributing to Ukraine’s ongoing battlefield struggles” as well as “crackdowns on political opponents and moves toward authoritarian rule.”
Some reports suggest Dubinsky may have ties to Russian influence campaigns. But allegations of Zelensky being a tyrant, no better than Putin, are rampant. Last week, The Spectator published a damning article by a senior official who had been appointed by Zelensky. The anonymous official said, in part:
Ukraine has become a paradox: a nation fighting for its sovereignty while dismantling its own democratic foundations. Today, fear rules over a country where elections are indefinitely postponed, human rights are systematically eroded and fear dictates daily life. Zelensky’s authoritarian instincts were already becoming clear even before Putin’s invasion. As early as 2019, I listened as he demanded propaganda from his subordinates to flood the media with praise when his policies failed.
… Thousands of Ukrainian men have paid bribes — tens of thousands of dollars — to flee the only European country with sealed borders for men of conscription age. Those who remain live in fear, wary of stepping outside lest they be seized off the streets, in cafés, or in shops — dragged into vans and sent to the front lines. Some of the latest draftees are disabled or chronically ill. Many receive little or no training before deployment.
War has provided Zelensky with unchecked power, enabling his security forces to act with impunity. In at least eight frontline regions, martial law has given rise to police and military excesses. Under the pretext of hunting down collaborators, state forces raid homes, search phones and laptops and detain civilians arbitrarily. In such areas, people will never reveal their true thoughts to a journalist or a pollster. They will parrot the state’s approved rhetoric — Zelensky as a hero, Ukraine as unbreakable. And then, in private, they will say what they really think: that they want him gone.
Europe Is Scrambling
Meanwhile, Europeans held an emergency Ukraine summit in London on Sunday. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted about 20 allies to begin building a “coalition of the willing,” which would commit military assets, including troops on the ground and planes in the air, to secure any eventual peace. “We have to turn Ukraine into a steel porcupine that is indigestible for potential invaders,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after the London meeting.
The plan is to come up with a ceasefire plan to present to Trump, who would then talk to Putin. Trump has already talked at length with Putin about ending the war.
Starmer also said that Europe “must do the heavy lifting,” but that U.S. involvement is necessary, prompting criticism from Trump. “Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking?” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Starmer tried to turn the temperature down on concern in Western Europe that the U.S. has abandoned them. “I do not accept that the U.S. is an unreliable ally,” he said.
What part of NO does Starmer Not get!
It’s NUTS! No Backstop, No weapons, NO MONEY. No paying salaries for their Government/Military, NO MORE Abusive USAID!
NOTHING, They Get NOTHING!
Then, We need to leave NATO
No more Europe playing Using us!
They’re NOT aligned & Reckless! https://t.co/MSqVY4KWIf— Sicilian-ShaSha 🇺🇸 (@shash1960) March 2, 2025
French President Emmanuel Macron told Le Figaro newspaper on Sunday that Britain and France believe a good starting point for a ceasefire would be a monthlong deal between Russia and Ukraine to stop aerial bombing, naval attacks, and strikes on energy infrastructure.
Get U.S. Out of NATO
The Europeans are learning they have been too dependent on the United States. As much as they’d like to keep the bullets flying and the bombs dropping in Ukraine, they’re literally out of ammo.
The post World War II rules-based order implemented an arrangement that essentially made the U.S. Western and Central Europe’s bodyguard. Now, Trump is turning the entire arrangement on its head.
The globalists’ plan was to expand NATO — the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — which was officially created as an alliance against Soviet aggression, across the world. Even Establishment figures such as Jeffrey Sachs have come to this conclusion.
NATO is almost exclusively backed by U.S. military muscle. When a NATO nation is attacked, all members are bound to come to its rescue. This is why Zelensky continues to seek NATO entry. And this, in part, is why many in America are now calling for the U.S. to leave NATO. There’s legitimate concern that, as the Europeans began dealing with the Ukraine-Russia boondoggle, things could escalate and eventually drag the U.S. into a war created by Europe’s globalist-oriented elites.
The parent company of this magazine, The John Birch Society, has long advocated for America’s exit out of NATO. Now that call is being echoed by others, including those with the president’s ear. Elon Musk, the unofficial chief of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), supports the U.S. exit from not only NATO, but the entire United Nations. He has some great company in Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).
The globalists’ plans seem to be unraveling, at least in part. The March/April issue of Foreign Affairs, the affiliate magazine of the globalist-oriented think tank Council on Foreign Relations, declares “The Center Will Not Hold: How an Order Ends.”