European leaders in Brussels declare themselves the “leaders of the free world” while arresting citizens for memes. Likewise, they claim Putin woke up one morning, had a cup of coffee, and attacked the beautiful democracy of Ukraine...“unprovoked.”

Who do they think they’re trying to fool?

Americans ought to know that the war started in 2014 when Yanukovych was forcibly removed from office. Some Ukrainians call it a coup, others a glorious revolution—the only difference being political affiliation.

Supporters of Yanukovych, mostly in Donbas, chose to secede and, like most secessions, it led to a civil war. Much later, the Minsk agreement was brokered to give Donbas some degree of autonomy.

A Ukrainian attack on a Donetsk bus in 2015. YouTube screen grab.

Despite this agreement, Kyiv intermittently shelled the folks in Donbas, most of whom have Russian ethnicity, over a period of six years. In 2022, after years of failed negotiations, Russia decided, rightly or wrongly, to take matters into its own hands, vowing to end the conflict.

Kiev blamed Russia for the shelling. Residents in Donbas blamed Kiev. Who was at fault? Who knows?

Either way, none of that matters now. It’s 2025, a million people have died, maybe more, and there is no end in sight.

Indeed, despite spending hundreds of billions on a foreign conflict that doesn’t directly affect the American people, our establishment media advocates spending more tax dollars to save a “fellow democracy,” while omitting the fact that Zelenskyy arrests dissenters and political opponents, while using the war as an excuse not to hold elections. (Many nations, including our own, have managed elections during a war.)

I wonder if perhaps it’s time for those who display their Ukrainian flags to rethink what it means: Specifically, does it mean supporting Brussels, a large, inefficient, bureaucratic machine that blames Russia for all of Europe’s economic woes and whose war mongers thump their chest like foot-dragging, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals? Or does it mean supporting the Ukrainian military, which goes door-to-door, dragging men to war, forcing conscription?

How many of us would volunteer to travel to Ukraine to fight on the front-line?

Regarding peace, Zelensky and Brussels incessantly use two phrases: “lasting peace” and “security guarantees,” but their proposals are vague and unrealistic. In the real world, a security guarantee would mean American boots on the ground in Ukraine.

I would argue that Trump made the right decision. The jingoism in Europe may expand the war, but we should not get involved.