According to a transcript obtained by the German outlet, Europe rallied around Volodymyr Zelenskyy and sharply criticized Washington.
French President Emmanuel Macron warned the U.S. could be about to “betray” Ukraine, according to a leaked transcript of a call between European leaders strategizing about how to protect Kyiv.
The details of the phone call — which took place Monday and involved Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and others — were published by German magazine Der Spiegel and saw the leaders discussing U.S.-led peace negotiations with Kyiv and Moscow.
“There is a possibility that the U.S. will betray Ukraine on the issue of territory without clarity on security guarantees,” Macron said, according to Spiegel, adding there was “a great danger” for Zelenskyy. The Élysée did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment. Spiegel reported the Élysée denied in a statement to the German outlet that Macron spoke of any betrayal. “The president did not use those words,” Macron’s office said, per Spiegel.
That’s more just “corruption”. But we’ve been practicing corrupt politics since… checks history textbook… ah, President George Washington.
The problem with the Ukraine/Russia war is that there’s a ton of economic interests geared towards arming belligerents, clearing out native peoples from their land, and looting Ukraine for the benefit of external plutocrats. One could argue this is a problem with every war, particularly in the 400 years since we’ve developed a capitalist form of enterprise. We’re just doing to Ukraine and the surrounding Mediterranean region what Spain, France, and Britain were doing to North America centuries earlier.
That kind of conquest and control is both profitable for the ranking leadership of the invading countries and broadly beneficial for the public at-large who get salaries and investment returns as a consequence of the economic activity of shooting and looting.
So, now we’re describing “imperialism”.