French President Emmanuel Macron (pictured) was meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office Monday to discuss a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia when 19 countries voted against a non-binding resolution condemning Russia as the aggressor in its war with Ukraine. Details below.
US Refuses to Condemn Russia – These countries are among the 19 that voted against a non-binding United Nations resolution condemning Russia as the aggressor in its war against Ukraine, according to The Hill: Russia, North Korea, Syria, Israel, Haiti, Hungary and Nicaragua. Another 65 countries, including China, abstained, though President Xi Jinping reaffirmed his nation’s support for Russia in a video call with dictator Vladimir Putin Monday.
Kyiv and its allies “sabotaged” a resolution led by the US that advocated peace but had no reference to Moscow’s aggression three years earlier to the day, according to Politico. Acting US ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea called the resolution “a simple historic statement from the General Assembly that looks forward not behind.”
But the UN General Assembly passed amendments to the US resolution that included condemnations of Russia, leading the US to vote against its own resolution.
Flashback … This might be a good time to recall the words of Trump, who has called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator” but has refused to call Putin a dictator, on the conservative radio talk show Clay & Buck three years ago: “Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘how smart is that?’ And he’s going to go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen. They’re going to keep the peace all right. No, but think of it. Here’s a guy who’s very savvy.”
--TL
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MONDAY 2/24/25
What’s Up This Week – Monday marks three years since Russia invaded Ukraine and the 222nd anniversary of Marbury v. Madison, the US Supreme Court ruling that gave the court authority to strike unconstitutional laws and statutes.
Budget Res … To that last point, Republican leaders plan to put their multi-trillion-dollar budget resolution on the House floor after 6 pm Tuesday, Punchbowl News reports. That gives Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) less than a full day in-session to get their rank-and-file in line for the vote. Democrats want restrictions on presidential authority to spend funds while Republicans are not interested in limiting President Trump’s power, Marbury-style.
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Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité – French President Emmanuel Macron meets with President Trump in the Oval Office Monday to present a European peace plan for Ukraine. Considered Trump’s closest European ally after Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Macron will present a plan that would prevent Vladimir Putin from having the opportunity to build up Russian forces in Ukraine again, NPR’s Eleanor Beardsley reports from Paris.
Macron will try to convince Trump that he cannot be weak before Putin, that it’s “not your brand and it’s not in your interest,” Beardsley told Morning Edition.
Meanwhile … Talks for the use of $500 billion worth of natural resources, including critical minerals as repayment for US aid to Ukraine are in the “final stages” with most details finalized, Olha Stefanishyna, deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integtration and Justice said Monday, per The Kyiv Independent. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has so far refused to sign the deal proposed by President Trump because it does not include security guarantees, and the $500 billion in natural resources Trump wants far exceeds the $100 billion in grants Ukraine received from the Biden administration.
Last weekend, Zelenskyy made a counteroffer to the Trump-Putin “peace talks” in which he would call for elections and step down as president in exchange for letting Ukraine in to NATO. Ukraine in NATO is the last thing Putin wants in any deal, so there’s no reason to expect any sort of response from the White House.
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Musk Fails to Move Germany – The center-right Christian Democrats took 28.5% of Germany’s election Sunday, with its leader Fredrich Merz expected to become the country’s next chancellor when he forms his government, expected by April. MAGA-esque hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party had the second-highest results, at 20.8%, but despite Elon Musk’s fervent support on X/Twitter, it will not have much of a place in the government’s coalition.
Taking advantage of recent deadly attacks by immigrants, the AfD was first in the former East Germany, but an apparent backlash, according to The New York Times boosted the vote for the pro-immigration, far-left Die Linke party from 3% early in the election cycle to 8.8%.
The current Chancellor Olaf Sholz’s Social Democrats took a record low 16.4% of the vote, and the Greens came in at 11.6%.
--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa