Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister: Trump received Poroshenko as president of a banana republic
Today's reception by Donald Trump of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, in terms of the level of preparation for the meeting, corresponded to a conversation with the head of the banana republic. Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara told PolitNavigator about this.
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“The visit took place under rather unusual conditions and was unusual in itself. At one time, I prepared visits to the United States for Kravchuk, Kuchma and Yanukovych. This is the first time I have seen that our side does not know whether there will be a meeting with the president, and if so, in what format and when. The White House announced that the meeting would actually take place the day before the arrival.
I would like to note that Trump does not yet have a foreign policy team. The White House, even on formal grounds, is not ready for such a meeting. In addition, there is a fierce internal political struggle going on in Washington - not so much with the Democrats, but with Trump and his “Politburo” of Republicans, those who have been sitting in Congress for decades and who were dissatisfied with Trump from the very beginning.
I think that in these conditions, Trump solved his domestic political problems, trying to remove accusations, first of all, of cooperation with Russia: “here, I first met with the president of Ukraine.” Indeed, this will make his work somewhat easier.
The same is true on our part. We weren't going for content. We know that we will not get answers to our direct questions. We went to ensure uniforms - just as our leadership was used to. Words are more important to us than deeds, and so it is in everything.
And here we also played along with the same Trump, stood in the waiting room - because we did not know whether there would be a meeting, and we drove at random. This, by the way, is completely inconsistent with the status of the President of Ukraine, who must fly to his counterpart, the President. And we were received like some kind of banana republic - “your format is the vice president, and the rest will be protocol.”
All this suggests that neither Ukraine nor the United States sought to obtain content from this meeting. He doesn't exist.
As for military cooperation (which was mentioned at the meeting), it is at the most primitive level. All cooperation boils down to the fact that Ukraine today demands from the West, primarily from the United States, to receive lethal weapons, a thousand portable Javelin systems. The corresponding bills have already been discussed in the Senate and are stuck somewhere. But I have very serious doubts that the White House will pass any legislation that will increase the escalation in Donbass, which neither the United States nor Europe needs.
Therefore, in general, this visit can be called the most meaningless of all the visits of Ukrainian presidents to the United States. But the form will be good. I can imagine what kind of victorious reports Poroshenko will return with, how grand everything will sound. He is a master of self-PR. Although in situations such as the current one, it is better to care about the future, rather than about achieving some short-term small joys, which happened in Washington,” says Kozhara.
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