After Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal that could lead to an end of the war, Russian President Vladimir Putin has laid out a string of conditions in response.
Putin said any agreement should include Ukraine recognizing Russia’s annexation of Crimea and four southeastern regions, withdrawing troops from lands claimed by Russia and pledging never to join the North Atlantia Treaty Organization (NATO) – the post-World War II security agreement between 32 democratic nations in Europe and North America.
Putin also seeks limits on Ukraine’s military and wants to see Zelenskyy replaced.
Zelenskyy has responded to Putin’s demands with, “nothing will work out at all, or it will not work out for as long as possible.”
How to play Putin
It’s foolish to take Putin at his word, but it’s also possible for the U.S. to manipulate his actions, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) said on Washington Watch Thursday:
Show host Tony Perkins (to Graham): “Do you trust Putin?”
Graham: “No, I don’t. You’d be crazy to, but I do trust … he’ll change his behavior if it’s painful enough.”
Graham supports President Donald Trump’s peace deal and said he believes there will be a negotiated peace settlement. He predicts Trump will take different actions than in 2014 when Russia took over Crimea, a majority-Russian peninsula in Ukraine, and Crimea’s governing legislature. The U.S. responded with diplomacy, foreign aid to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.
Russia has ruled Crimea since.
With Trump, noted Graham, there’s often a business angle. The minerals deal with Ukraine is it – and it’s a good move, said the senator.
“They have invaded [Ukraine] in 2008, 2014 and 2022. We didn’t tell Putin what would happen if he did it again. We need to do that. We didn’t integrate our economies with Ukraine. We need to do the minerals deal. They’re sitting on trillions of dollars of critical minerals,” Graham said.
The minerals deal creates a vested interest in Ukraine for the U.S. to protect. Ukraine security would be a byproduct of that, a different way of getting to a U.S. security guarantee that Zelenskyy craves.
“For Donald Trump it is [a guarantee],” Graham explained. “There’s no better interest in terms of getting Trump on your side than be his business partner. He would not let anybody disrupt the good business deal for America.”
Graham said Zelenskyy “screwed up at the White House, but we’re back on track.”
The U.S. would get $500 billion in critical minerals, “the oil of the 21st Century” that is critical in the advancement of the Artificial Intelligence industry, according to reports.
In addition, Americans would be on the ground in Ukraine working to extract and oversee the delivery of minerals. They would require protection. Security for Ukraine is implied, Graham said.
“We’re not going to sit by and let someone take our stuff once we’re a business partner,” Graham added.
The U.S. can join Ukraine in a business deal and receive some “critical minerals” from the “richest country in Europe” – or it can watch its enemies take all of the minerals, Graham said.
“You don’t want to give that to China and Russia by force of arms,” he said. “You can't let thugs take things that … belong to other people, especially when those people are your allies and want to share their wealth with you.”
What should be the U.S. role in Syria?
The other hot spot on the world stage is the Middle East and not only because of the Israel-Hamas war.
Thousands of Christians and other religious minorities – mostly Alawites, the Shia Islamic sect that included deposed dictator Bashar al-Assad and his family – have been killed during in an uptick in violence in Syria over the last week.
The interim Syrian government, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa (right), formerly of ISIS, has signed a deal with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to integrate the Kurds into state institutions and merge them with the Syrian Army. The agreement could strengthen protections for the Kurds and lead to a nationwide ceasefire.
Graham says he was told Iran was quite possibly the instigator of the recent violence.
Al-Sharaa’s government has cooled its ties with both Russia and Iran, stating future relationships must be based on mutual respect.
How should the U.S. respond to unrest so close to Israel, which borders Syria in the northeast? It’s too early to tell, Graham said.
“I don’t know exactly what’s going on in Syria, but we need to watch it like a hawk. If this is a new group that we can do business with, that has basically kicked the Iranians and the Russians out, that's good. If they're radical Islamists that want to kill Christians and others, that's bad,” he said.
“Actions matter, but the fact they did a deal with the Kurds is encouraging. The Kurds have been good friends, but what happened to Christians in the south just a few days ago concerns me greatly. Over there it’s distrust, then verify.”
