US joins rogue states in UN to back Putin over Ukraine

Bizarre scenes at the UN in New York on Monday (Tuesday AEDT) – when the US linked arms with Russia, North Korea and Belarus to oppose a resolution condemning Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine – have highlighted the enormous impact that Donald Trump’s up-ending of foreign policy is having on the Western alliance and Washington’s leadership of the free world. The US President’s stand on European defence spending is right. But this vote takes the matter into a different realm.

On the third anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s lawless invasion, major Western democracies, including close US allies Australia, Canada, Britain, France and Germany, were among the 93 nations that voted for the EU-Ukraine-sponsored resolution that, although mildly worded, unequivocally named Russia the aggressor in Ukraine and demanded it withdraw its troops. But in what doubtless will be a shock for many longstanding American allies, the US, with Mr Trump back in the White House, was not among those democracies.

Instead, in what is thought may be the first time since World War II, the US chose to align itself with a motley mob of 18 countries that included not only Russia, North Korea and Belarus but also lesser- known dictatorships and gross human rights abusers such as Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Nicaragua and Sudan. China, despite its “no limits” alliance with Moscow, was among 65 countries that abstained. So did Iran. It is unfortunate that the US, if it could not support the resolution, did not do the same.

Instead, by voting as it did in supporting Putin’s oppressive regime and aligning itself with odious authoritarians in Pyongyang and Minsk, the Trump administration has raised serious questions about where it is headed with its embrace of the Russian despot and what that may portend for US allies. Linking up with gangster regimes was never thought to be a likely consequence of Mr Trump’s return to the White House. But it is now a reality and French President Emmanuel Macron was correct when he interrupted several times to point out the US President’s misconceptions and plain untruths about Ukraine. In meeting Mr Macron, Mr Trump declined even to concede that Putin, with his appalling record across 25 years in power, was a dictator – the word Mr Trump used to describe Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was democratically elected. Mr Trump shied away and responded, “I don’t use those words lightly” when asked whether Putin was also a dictator.

That was his answer when asked about a tyrant who has killed countless democratic opponents, including Alexei Navalny, and is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children in Ukraine and elsewhere. Thus the US under Mr Trump’s leadership was happy to vote with Russia, North Korea and Belarus in opposing a reasonably worded resolution demanding Moscow withdraw from its unlawful invasion of Ukraine.

The Wall Street Journal termed the US voting with the rogue states “a sad day for the US” and “regrettable”. It is also a seminal moment for the world’s democracies as they contemplate what appears to be the reality, only weeks into Mr Trump’s new term, that he is in thrall to Putin and the impact the US’s dramatically changed stance on global security will have on the Western alliance.

Mr Macron did well to correct Mr Trump on various misconceptions and misunderstandings. He put the US President right when Mr Trump tried to make out that Russia was not the aggressor in Ukraine. “The aggressor is Russia,” Mr Macron insisted. He was no less forthright when Mr Trump repeated the claim that the US had spent $US350bn helping Ukraine and “has nothing to show for it” while Europe had spent only $US100bn. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Europe has allocated $US138bn to the war effort compared with $US119bn provided by the US. Mr Trump persistently ignores – or misunderstands – the importance to the entire world, including countries as far away as Australia, of ensuring that Putin does not get his way in Ukraine. Mr Macron was also right to point out to Mr Trump that if he really did want to see peace in Ukraine the US had an obligation to ensure that “peace must not mean a surrender of Ukraine … it must not mean a peace without guarantees … it must allow for Ukrainian sovereignty”.

The shocking reality for the democratic world after the UN vote on Monday is that the US, which is supposed to be the leader of the free world, aligned itself with the world’s rogues rather than with fellow democracies. Close US allies that have invested so much for decades in what they have regarded as their vital relationship with Washington can only wonder about what lies ahead. Mr Trump is showing he is no Ronald Reagan, who also sought peace and achieved it by never shrinking from telling the truth about the oppressive Soviet Union. Truth, Reagan insisted, was an essential weapon in defeating what he termed the “evil empire”.