LETTERS TO THE - EDITOR

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

How the Trump-Putin connection Impacts Ukraine

To the Editor: In the early 1990’s Trump suffered a series of bankruptcies. He owed American Banks around a billion dollars and they were not going to give him more. Russia had just sold many national assets to oligarchs who were now swimming in money and happily lent Trump some cash. That seems to be the beginning of his love for Putin and his oligarchs.

In 1994, Ukraine had the third largest stockpile of nuclear weapons and gave it all up in exchange for security guarantees from the West and Russia. Despite this, in 2014, Russia occupied the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula. Because Ukraine is not part of NATO, that attack didn’t trigger article 5, “An attack on one is an attack on all.” The western democracies simply provided weapons to Ukraine to defend itself.

In 2016 Trump openly asked Russia to hack Hillary’s campaign and hacked information was leaked immediately, which likely helped him win the election.

Then, in 2019, the Ukrainians voted Putin's puppet out of office, choosing the comedian Zelenskyy as their president. Trump then withheld weapon deliveries trying to blackmail Zelenskyy into inventing an investigation into the Biden family, which he refused to do. In 2022 Putin tried to overrun and swallow Russia’s neighbor, but Ukraine stood strong.

Trump repeatedly blamed Ukraine for the war and adopted Russia’s demands in the US peace proposal and still appears to do Putin's bidding. This week's rare Earth deal is a start but not a peace deal yet. Let’s hope for the best.

Markus Fasel Chippewa Falls

Peaceful Rally

To the Editor: On May 19 from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m., concerned persons will be rallying in support of First Amendment rights outside the offices of U.S. Representative Tom Tiffany, 2620 Stewart Ave., Wausau.

This is a peaceful, grassroots effort led by individuals in central, northern and western Wisconsin and is not sponsored by any organization or party. Those planning to attend share a concern that rights assured by the First Amendment are under increasing threat as evidenced by certain actions of the current administration.

The First Amendment reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Nancy Young