Dear Editor:
The apparent goal of Alexander J. Stepanyk’s letter (March 3) is to convince Ukrainian Americans to vote Democratic and to hate Donald Trump and his associates based on President Trump’s treatment of the Ukrainian nation.
But Ukrainian Americans for Obama must realize by now that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton did nothing for Ukraine. Mr. Obama fiddled while Russia annexed Crimea and eastern Ukraine burned from the invasion of Russian forces.
Mr. Trump did indeed give lethal weapons to Ukraine. Mr. Stepanyk insists that credit for this goes only to Jim Mattis, not the president. Who does he think appointed Mr. Mattis as defense secretary? Mr. Trump now has Russia hawks such as John Bolton and Mike Pompeo as advisors at the highest level. Hardly the act of a Russian stooge.
Mr. Stepanyk complains that Mr. Trump did nothing when Russia attacked Ukrainian ships. Apparently he is unaware that the U.S. is strengthening the Ukrainian Navy: U.S. Coast Guard cutters were sent to Ukraine. The U.S. is constructing a maritime operations center for Ukraine near Odesa and sending naval ships on port visits.
The new “outrage” that is supposed to sicken us is the removal of sanctions on a Russian company owned by Oleg Deripaska – Vladimir Putin’s pal. In fact, the sanctions on Mr. Deripaska are still in effect. The sanctions on Rusal were removed after it satisfied demands that Mr. Deripaska be removed from any connection with the company. Mr. Deripaska is now suing the U.S. Treasury to remove the sanctions because they “devastated my economic livelihood.”
Stating that Republican senators were bought off with donations from Russia is beyond the pale – there are no facts to support this lie. The only people who got millions from the Russians are Hillary Clinton and Tony Podesta through their phony foundations and consulting firms.
The Democrats all of a sudden have discovered that they are anti-Russian. They appease us with resolutions and letters about their concern for Ukraine, but their goal is to get rid of Mr. Trump.
Ukrainian Americans should learn from their history and examine their options in this “new reality.” Do they want to be a party focused on identity politics, open borders, illegal immigration, appeasement, infanticide, climate hysteria and anti-Semitism? Do they remember that socialism was to blame for Chornobyl? Do they want to lose their individual freedom in exchange for paychecks from the government?
Trump was not “antagonistic” toward NATO. He was angry that not enough money was being spent on the military by NATO members – he wanted NATO strengthened.
Mr. Stepanyk should show more respect for readers and not just repeat misleading headlines. Most people do not have the time or inclination to dig deeper into his allegations and therefore are inclined to believe them. Mr. Trump is doing more for Ukraine than Mr. Obama ever did. I will tolerate his tweets and exaggerations over the obscene behavior and lies of the new Democratic party and its socialist ideology. They are the frightening “new reality.”
Colts Neck, N.J.