"This transactional view of international relations isn't new, but history offers a more nuanced perspective on how nations have navigated the complex terrain of aid, gratitude, and reciprocity during wartime."
Thank you for portraying international relations in this manner. I appreciate this view of gratitude, diplomacy, and international order rather than yesterday's display of thuggery we have all spoke of to exhaustion. Your history lessons are always valued.
Two classless thugs who planned a performance for TV. It was too obvious. Zelensky did not raise his voice once. In fact, you can barely hear him. The New York Times headline was quickly changed from "shouting match" to "Trump and Vance shout down Zelensky."
Echos of "I am ashamed to be an American" fill my news feed. I concur. Decades of trust and allegiance from European Allies seem to have evaporated into the ether after the "shake down" in The Oval.
Historians such as yourself, know the sacrifices, the consequences and most of all the cost our
generation fought and died for to keep America's promise of freedom. Our debt to Europe, NATO & our fighting forces is real. These "predators" in the White House are not. It is smoke and mirrors. They think "might is right"; no thought of anything but the transactional "deal".
But trust is real. Alliances are real. They are everything. The transatlantic bridge is breaking. The world is watching. May the U.S. be the country who shall remain forever on the side of those who suffer, on the side of life and hope. The night is setting in as fast as the desert grows dark and we must be the light, be on the right side of history. Thank you, as ever, Alex for this.
An exceptional review of history, as always! The 🍑 felon and his band of MAGA loyalists are trying to extract mineral rights in Ukraine 🇺🇦; I do not believe this is transactional in exchange for either past or future military support. They really do not care; it is unlikely they will extend future support simply because they care nothing for others in need and lack any empathy at all. MAGA are quite simply selfish, demanding toddlers who get a glimpse of something they want or think they need and demand it be given. On their terms and of course to please Putin, the 🍑 felon’s puppet master.
I have seen several publications recently documenting Trump’s long term rise as a Russian asset. The American Kompromat! Sorry, his code name has escaped me for the moment. I have long suspected this was the situation but reading the history confirms my worst fears. So many of the well done memes across the internet 🛜 make the point clearly. Our escape from the grip of MAGA and Trumpism will be treacherous as the threats now are not to “force primaries” in coming elections (assuming there are any); now threats are to use the military whose Commanding Officers have been replaced again by loyalists who will call up the various military units to use weapons to force compliance by the people including legislators. This could happen sooner than anticipated; perhaps it’s late and I need to scroll some happy places before 😴. We have no idea what will happen tomorrow. It’s extremely unfortunate that in the last 24-36 hours, our allies are abandoning the previous world order and organizing without us. What did they think would happen after the brutal treatment Zelenskyy received? Ukraine 🇺🇦 deserved more from us, from the beginning. Short sighted politicians will bring us the WW3 no citizen voted for. I am ashamed to be an American 🇺🇸 today.
"This transactional view of international relations isn't new, but history offers a more nuanced perspective on how nations have navigated the complex terrain of aid, gratitude, and reciprocity during wartime."
Thank you for portraying international relations in this manner. I appreciate this view of gratitude, diplomacy, and international order rather than yesterday's display of thuggery we have all spoke of to exhaustion. Your history lessons are always valued.
Thank you, Rena
Two classless thugs who planned a performance for TV. It was too obvious. Zelensky did not raise his voice once. In fact, you can barely hear him. The New York Times headline was quickly changed from "shouting match" to "Trump and Vance shout down Zelensky."
I remember reading it as shouting match which indeed wasn’t at all what I had seen. I felt physically unwell after watching this scene.
I just reread this post. It's a great, in-depth summary of the history of gratitude between our European allies and America.
Echos of "I am ashamed to be an American" fill my news feed. I concur. Decades of trust and allegiance from European Allies seem to have evaporated into the ether after the "shake down" in The Oval.
Historians such as yourself, know the sacrifices, the consequences and most of all the cost our
generation fought and died for to keep America's promise of freedom. Our debt to Europe, NATO & our fighting forces is real. These "predators" in the White House are not. It is smoke and mirrors. They think "might is right"; no thought of anything but the transactional "deal".
But trust is real. Alliances are real. They are everything. The transatlantic bridge is breaking. The world is watching. May the U.S. be the country who shall remain forever on the side of those who suffer, on the side of life and hope. The night is setting in as fast as the desert grows dark and we must be the light, be on the right side of history. Thank you, as ever, Alex for this.
Thank you, Sharon. I read hopeful comments on social media too. But I wonder where this is going to end. Who will stop the madness?
An exceptional review of history, as always! The 🍑 felon and his band of MAGA loyalists are trying to extract mineral rights in Ukraine 🇺🇦; I do not believe this is transactional in exchange for either past or future military support. They really do not care; it is unlikely they will extend future support simply because they care nothing for others in need and lack any empathy at all. MAGA are quite simply selfish, demanding toddlers who get a glimpse of something they want or think they need and demand it be given. On their terms and of course to please Putin, the 🍑 felon’s puppet master.
I have seen several publications recently documenting Trump’s long term rise as a Russian asset. The American Kompromat! Sorry, his code name has escaped me for the moment. I have long suspected this was the situation but reading the history confirms my worst fears. So many of the well done memes across the internet 🛜 make the point clearly. Our escape from the grip of MAGA and Trumpism will be treacherous as the threats now are not to “force primaries” in coming elections (assuming there are any); now threats are to use the military whose Commanding Officers have been replaced again by loyalists who will call up the various military units to use weapons to force compliance by the people including legislators. This could happen sooner than anticipated; perhaps it’s late and I need to scroll some happy places before 😴. We have no idea what will happen tomorrow. It’s extremely unfortunate that in the last 24-36 hours, our allies are abandoning the previous world order and organizing without us. What did they think would happen after the brutal treatment Zelenskyy received? Ukraine 🇺🇦 deserved more from us, from the beginning. Short sighted politicians will bring us the WW3 no citizen voted for. I am ashamed to be an American 🇺🇸 today.
Thank you, Judith. It’s a frightening situation
Thank you, Lizzie. It’s heartwarming for Europeans to see how many Americans are as shocked as we are over here.