Letters from an American - February 24, 2025

Episode Date: February 25, 2025

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February 24th, 2025. Three years ago today, a massive influx of Russian troops crossed into Ukraine to join the troops that had been there since the 2014 invasion. At the time, it seemed that Russian President Vladimir Putin thought victory would be a matter of days, and observers did not think he was wrong. But Ukraine government officials pointedly filmed themselves in Kiev and Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky refused to leave. Rejecting the US offer of evacuation,

Zelensky replied, the fight is here. I need ammunition, not a ride. For the past three years, Ukraine has held off Russia. As Ann Applebaum noted today in the Atlantic, civilian society in Ukraine has volunteered for the war effort and the defense industry has transformed to produce both hardware and software to hit Russian targets. Indeed, Ukraine now leads the world in AI-enabled drone technology. The Ukraine army has become the largest in Europe with a million people. Ukraine has suffered attacks on civilians, hospitals, and the energy sector, and at least 46,000 soldiers have died, with another 380,000 wounded.

At the same time, Russia's economy is crumbling as its military production takes from the civilian economy and sanctions prevent other countries from taking up the slack. Inflation is through the roof and more than 700,000 of those fighting for Russia have been killed or wounded. Applebaum notes that the Institute for the Study of War estimates that at the rate it's moving

Russia would need 83 years to capture the remaining 80% of Ukraine. The only way Putin wins now, Applebaum writes, is by persuading Ukraine's allies to be sick of the war, by persuading Trump to cut off Ukraine, and by convincing Europeans that they can't win either. And this appears to be the plan afoot as US President Donald Trump has directed US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Walz, to negotiate an end to the war with Russian officials. Neither Ukrainian nor European leaders were invited to the talks that took place last Tuesday in Riyadh,

Saudi Arabia. Three years ago, President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken were key to rallying allies and partners to stand against the invasion, providing war material, humanitarian aid, money, and crucial economic sanctions against Russia that began the process of dismantling the Russian economy. Today, Ukraine hosted European leaders, but U.S. officials did not attend. In the past week President Donald Trump has embraced Russian propaganda about its invasion. Trump blamed Ukraine for the war that Russia began by invading, called Zelensky a dictator for not holding elections during wartime. Russia hopes that it will be able to sway new

elections but Ukraine's laws bar wartime elections. And lied that the U.S. has provided $350 billion to Ukraine and that half the money is missing. In fact, the U.S. has provided about $100 billion, which is less than Europe has contributed, and the U.S. contributions have been mostly in the form of weapons from US stockpiles that defense industries then replaced at home. None of that support is missing. As Peter Baker of the New York Times points out, Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, Keith

Kellogg, said, we have a pretty good accounting of where it's going. Baker's piece explored how in Trump's alternate reality, lies and distortions will make it easier for Trump to give Putin everything he wants in a peace agreement. For his part, Putin on Saturday launched 267 drones into Ukraine, the largest drone attack of the war. Today, just a month into the second presidency of Donald Trump, the United States delegation to the United Nations voted against a resolution condemning Russia for its aggression in Ukraine and calling for it to end its occupation. That is, the U.S. voted against a resolution that reiterated that one nation must not invade

another, one of the founding principles of the United Nations itself, an organization whose headquarters are actually in the United States. The U.S. voted with Russia, Israel, North Korea, Belarus, and 14 other countries friendly to Russia against the measure, which passed overwhelmingly. China and India abstained. On Google Maps, users changed the name of Trump's Florida Club Mar-a-Lago to Kremlin headquarters. The editorial board of London's Financial Times noted today that in the past 10 days, Trump has all but incinerated 80 years of post-war American leadership.

Instead, it has become an unabashed predator, allied with Russia and other countries the US formerly saw as adversaries. The board recalled important moments in which the US displayed its character as global leader, and those moments defined the world's idea of America. But a new era has begun. Trump's assertion that Ukraine should never have started the war with Russia, and J.D. Vance's statement that the real danger in Europe is liberal democracy, are the dark version of those moments, coming, as they did, straight from Putin's talking points. Each, the board said, will live in infamy. It added that there should be no doubt that Trump's contempt for allies and admiration for strongmen is real and will endure. He is

instinctively committed to the idea that the world is a jungle in which the big players take what they want. He divides the world into spheres of interest. America, the board concluded, has turned. It appears Putin thought that breaking the US away from Europe would leave Europe weak at a drift, especially with Germany about to hold elections that Russia hoped Germany's far-right pro-Russian party would win, and with both Elon Musk and Vice President J.D. Vance having demonstrated their support. But French President Emmanuel Macron, a staunch backer of Ukraine, appears to be stepping into the vacuum caused by the loss of the United States.

After the U.S.'s reorientation became clear at the Munich Security Conference on February 14th through 16th, Macron invited European leaders to Paris to discuss the US change. On Monday, February 17th, eight European leaders and the heads of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, and European Union met. On Wednesday, Macron spoke with the leaders of 19 countries, including Canada, either in person or over video conferencing. Leaders from Belgium, Bulgaria,

Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, and Sweden also joined the conversation. The far-right German party made gains in yesterday's election but did not win. Instead, the center-right party won and will form a government with the outgoing center-left party. The incoming party strongly supports Ukraine. �I would never have thought that I would have to say something like this, Germany�s

next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said yesterday, but it is clear that Trump�s government does not care much about the fate of Europe.� He said that his � priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible, so that step by step we can really achieve independence from the USA. Yesterday, the European Union imposed more sanctions on Russia. Today, the United Kingdom announced a sweeping package of sanctions rivaling those of the war's early days. They include sanctions against companies in various countries that supply components like tools, electronics, and microprocessors for Russian munitions. The sanctions also include Russian oligarchs, ships transporting Russian oil, and North Korea's defense minister Noh Kwang-chol, whom the UK holds responsible for deploying North Korean soldiers to help Russia. Today, Macron visited Trump at the White House,

where the visit got off to a poor start when Trump broke protocol by neglecting to greet Macron when he arrived. During the visit, the two men took questions from the press. Macron maintained a facade of camaraderie with Trump, but as Trump slumped in his chair and recited the inaccuracies that in the U.S. often go uncorrected, Macron seemed comfortable and in command. He interrupted Trump to contradict him in front of reporters and called out Russia for being the aggressor in the war. John Simpson of the BBC noted that,

"'There are years when the world goes through some fundamental convulsive change, and that 2025 is on track to be one of them. A time when the basic assumptions about the way our world works are fed into the shredder. Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead in Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.