Demand #5: Protect Democracy, Restore Diplomacy with Allies
This is the fifth in a series of blog posts to explain 50501 Veterans’ Six Demands.
Protect Democracy, Restore Diplomatic Norms, and Maintain Strong Alliances with Global Democratic Leadership
Consent, cooperation and democratic principles provided the foundation for the fulcrum that swung the post-World War II West away from the fascist philosophies of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, and enabled the relative “Long Peace”]( https://humanprogress.org/trends/the-long-peace/) of Pax Americana.
Today, the United States and many of our Western Allies in the European Union and NATO are threatened by authoritarianism and relentless attacks on the democratic institutions that powered the relative posterity of the post-war West. Alliances such as NATO have played a critical role for U.S. military strategy, serving as a deterrence to hostile nations and bad actors for the past 76 years.
Now, President Trump’s acquiescence to Vladimir Putin, the cozying up to the likes of Viktor Orbán by the Christian Nationalist Radicals within the Republican Party, and the insidious workings of Elon Musk and his DOGE dogs to wreak havoc across our government institutions is creating dangerous risks not just for our nation, but for global stability in the 21st Century.
Let us be clear: Aligning with authoritarian regimes that undermine democratic governance and threaten U.S. interests weakens our nation and endangers not only our veterans and their families, but also those serving on Active Duty today.
Betraying Ukraine
When Donald Trump outlined his vision for peace in Ukraine, what he proposed was capitulation and betrayal.
Under his plan, the United States would recognize Russia’s control over Ukrainian territory, lift sanctions on Putin’s regime, cede a large Ukrainian naval base to Russia, and strike an energy deal on land that, until Russia’s invasion, belonged to Ukraine.
And in return?
Ukraine would receive a fresh security promise. From two countries currently ignoring the last security agreement all three signed together. While those same two countries would split the profits from extracting Russian-occupied Ukraine’s resources.
This is not a peace deal. It’s appeasement. And it’s betraying everything we claim to stand for as Americans.
To understand why this plan is so deeply flawed, we have to look back to 1994 and the Budapest Memorandum.
That year, Ukraine gave up the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal in exchange for explicit security assurances. Russia, the U.S., and the U.K. agreed to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and borders, expressly agreeing not to threaten or use military force, nor apply economic coercion against Ukraine. These were not vague diplomatic niceties; they were written commitments.
Russia broke that commitment to the U.S. and Ukraine in 2014 by annexing Crimea. It broke its commitment to the U.S. and Ukraine further in 2022 by launching a full-scale invasion. It continues to chip away at Ukraine’s sovereignty, yet what Trump now proposes is a reward package for the aggressor.
Why would Ukraine, or anyone for that matter, take Putin or Trump at their word?
Fooling Ourselves
America has a choice to make. Do we stand by the international commitments we helped write? Do we back a sovereign nation that disarmed itself because it trusted our word? No. Our America is choosing to reward the invaders with the land. While getting our cut, of course. But what message does betraying Ukraine send to our allies? If the price is right, we’ll abandon you and our agreements?
The rapidly deteriorating relationships the U.S. has had with its loyal allies since World War II and former East Bloc countries is reckless, dangerous, and deeply short-sighted. It undermines not only the survival of Ukraine as a sovereign nation, but our credibility as a nation that honors its promises and claims to defend freedom.
Once we start auctioning off the principles we claim to value, we’re not just trying to fool Ukraine and our other allies, we’re fooling ourselves.