RITTER: Trump Must Understand That Russia Won, and Won Big
Trump has been vague on how he will ultimately resolve the Ukraine conflict
Scott Ritter, the former UN weapons inspector, spoke with Judge Andrew Napolitano’s “Judging Freedom,” and said the incoming Trump administration has its work cut out for it vis-à-vis the Ukraine War because Russia has already won the conflict and it will expect a settlement that acknowledges its big victory — something that will not sit well with the Washington establishment or Kyiv.
“How do you convince Russia to cease a conflict that Russia’s winning when your demands for the cessation of conflict can only be imposed on Russia if Russia was losing?” Ritter asked. “Trump has to overcome his own ego on that, and he has to accept the fact that Russia has not only won, but Russia has won big, and as the big winner, Trump understands the big winners get the big payout. And the United States is going to have to give Russia the big payout that it’s demanding in Ukraine.”
Russia has long said its key demands have not changed: No NATO for Ukraine and it keeps the territory now in its control in Ukraine’s east.
So much for the campaign promise to end the Ukraine War within 24 hours!
Keith Kellogg, Donald Trump’s incoming special envoy on the Ukraine conflict, said in an interview last week that he set a self-imposed goal of resolving the war within 100 days — a noticeable increase from the 24 hours that his boss vowed during the campaign.
Kellogg, a retired Army lieutenant, appeared on Fox News and said he would like to set the goal on a “professional level.”