This is exactly what I wrote was most likely going to be Trump’s compromise.
Obviously, this is a media report, and WSJ has said some weird fake shit in the last few months (even though they tend to be a lot better than NYT or WaPo).
Regardless of the veracity of the report, this is what it is reasonable to expect Trump to try to do in the Ukraine.
RT:
Donald Trump’s team is considering several potential plans to end the Ukraine conflict, which would require Kiev to drop its plans to join NATO in the foreseeable future and freeze hostilities along the current front line, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing sources.
Trump, who defeated his Democratic rival Kamala Harris in the presidential election, has repeatedly vowed to end hostilities between Moscow and Kiev within 24 hours, even before being sworn into office.
(That period is over, btw. For anyone keeping track.)
According to officials and aides familiar with the situation, the Trump team does not yet have a detailed plan, with different factions “set to compete to influence the Republican’s foreign policy.” Such “traditionally minded” Trump allies as Mike Pompeo, who served as secretary of state and CIA director during the president-elect’s first term, are reportedly pushing for a deal that “doesn’t appear to give a major win to Moscow.”
Other figures, such as Richard Grenell, who could become Trump’s national security adviser, may advocate for ending the conflict as soon as possible, even if Kiev has to make significant concessions, the article said.
However, according to the WSJ, peace proposals “uniformly recommend freezing the war in place… and forcing Ukraine to temporarily suspend its quest to join” NATO. Three unnamed officials inside Trump’s transition office told the paper that one idea is to have Ukraine pledge not to join NATO “for at least 20 years,” while in exchange, the US would provide Kiev with ample weapons deliveries to keep Russia at bay.
The reported plan would also establish a demilitarized zone along the current front line, with one Trump adviser ruling out the possibility that peace there would be maintained by American troops or US-funded international organizations such as the UN. Under this proposal, the US would seek to delegate this task to its European allies, according to the WSJ.
This is exactly what was obvious if you spend a lot of time looking at this crap, as I unfortunately do.
Freezing the conflict and creating a DMZ allows you to not really address the issue. It’s a way to kick the can, not commit to anything, while also celebrating the victory of ending a conflict. Just as a point of reference, the Korean war has never officially ended. The war was frozen along a DMZ and both parties vow, decades later, to defeat the other side at some indeterminate point in the future.
It’s not clear whether Russia would agree to this. If it comes with a pledge not to join NATO, however, they probably would agree at this point. But they’re making a lot of ground now, so maybe they would reject it and keep pushing for Kiev until they either unseat the government or get a better deal.
The fact that Mike Pompeo and Richard Grenell are the ones giving advice on this is so *****ing hilarious and makes me think all these people celebrating Trump’s “election win” as some big American victory need to be shoved into a burning building. Off the bat, Trump is bringing in the worst people imaginable. Everyone knew that was going to happen, because he said that would happen, but it’s just incredible to me that people are so excited, like this is 2016 all over again, while they are looking straight at this disaster, raw.
It’s all so tiresome.