On 24 February 2025, thousands of Ukrainians and their families and friends crowded into London’s Trafalgar Square for an evening of prayers and protest, speeches and music, marking three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Particular excitement was caused by the appearance of the “Iron General”, the popular former commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valery Zaluzhnyi, who took up a new post as ambassador to the United Kingdom last year. But the mood was inescapably sober, and reflected a new sentiment absent from previous gatherings: betrayal.
I was in Ukraine on the eve of the US presidential elections. Regardless of disagreement with Harris’s more progressivist agenda, there was little question among those I spoke with that the Trump alternative seemed less favourable to the interests of Ukrainian national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The decisive Trump victory the next day however saw ever-hopeful Ukrainians adapt to the emotional necessity of the new reality with surprising enthusiasm. With Biden on his way out, Ukrainians felt free to say how they really felt: the President had underestimated the resolve of the Ukrainian people from day one, had attempted to persuade Zelensky to abandon his nation in its moment of crisis, and had moved with frustrating slowness and stinginess. Promises were made, then remade (as though they were new promises, but they were not!), and they were only partially kept. Weary with the performative virtue-signalling of a head-of-state who otherwise seemed asleep at the wheel, there was a greater openness to what the Trump presidency might mean than I had expected. Positive political messaging - doubtless calculated to keep the new American government close - swiftly gained traction, with statements about decisive leadership and “peace through strength”. Surely that strength would be leveraged against the bad guys, right? After all, America "does not negotiate with terrorists", right?
Sadly, the lead-up to 24 February’s anniversary was marked by some of the darkest days for Ukraine and its friends, but also for American diplomacy. First there was a proposed minerals deal that was not only exploitative, but carried a potential long-term economic impact that one would expect for a defeated enemy, not a friend. Then came a negotiation meeting in Saudi Arabia without any Ukrainian representation: the idea that Ukrainians should perhaps be present to negotiate for their own peace was later ridiculed. Increasing global dismay gave way to astonishing attacks from President Trump and others around him, parroting dishonest and easily disprovable Kremlin talking-points. Ukraine was blamed for starting the war, and the democratically elected and still majority-approved President Zelensky was portrayed as a “dictator without elections”, with a very low approval rating.
None of this is particularly surprising to those who have followed Trump closely over the years. And, I’m not referring to the wishful-thinking that this is all some sort of “Art of the Deal” politicking. Trump has consistently betrayed a pro-Putin bias. Vice-President Vance responded to the threat of Russia’s impending invasion in February 2022 with a very clear, “I don’t care”, that was later reflected in his Senate voting record. They've surrounded themselves with dangerously contrarian, amoral influencers with a distorted view of truth and justice... Or perhaps, they have no such concern (Proverbs 29:7). Those who breathlessly enthused about some common-sense decisions or convictional actions at the beginning of the Trump presidency should not kid themselves: the driving motive of the Trump presidency is not what is good, right, and true, but what is expedient.
This matters, because truth and justice matter. A Baptist pastor messaged me a video of an Orthodox Church in his region that was bombed by Russia early in the war, despite being a church under the Moscow patriarchate. In it, he appealed with broken English “Don’t believe Russian lies” and referenced the persecution Ukrainian believers have faced by Russian invaders and under their occupation (Mission Eurasia recently released a report about this, for your further research). He wrote me that in the mere hours since President Trump’s remarks, he had already heard from 5 different people in the West repeating Russian propaganda picked up from the president and an assortment of media personalities, dismissing his own first-hand knowledge and personally lived experience. Our Ukrainian brothers and sisters do not need us to suddenly modulate our voice on their behalf now that political winds are shifting and the man commonly seen as the most powerful in the world is muddying the waters.
The good news is that Trump is not the most powerful man in the world. Nor is Vladimir Putin. There is one who sits enthroned in heaven, who scoffs at the raging of the nations and plottings of the peoples. He is working out his sovereign plans and purposes, and they are for good not evil, for justice not oppression, for the advance of good news, not bad. Those who trust in him may walk though dark days, but they need not feel betrayed. What is really going on in all this chaos? The truth is, we don’t know. But the Lord knows. And he will not forever suffer liars, fools, or tyrants.
No comments:
Post a Comment