An Open Letter to Mr. Eric Schmitt and Mr. Josh Hawley Regarding America's Position on Ukraine

[Gizmo]

I am posting this in the hopes of getting more open an honest communication with my Senators. I am not hopeful, but I don't seem to have any other options available.
What follows in the letter that I sent to the United States Senators from Missouri, Eric Schmitt and Josh Hawley. As I have not secured their permission to post their responses, further posts below will contain my subsequent e-mails to both of them.

First, the original letter, sent on 11/21:


Gentlemen,
Let me open by saying that I understand that the President is well within his rights to attempt to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. I agree that in a perfect world, it is in the best interests of everyone for this conflict to be brought to a quick and permanent resolution.

That being said, based on the information I have available (chiefly the YouTube video by Ryan McBeth titled "The 28-Point Ukraine Peace Plan... and Why It's a Disaster") I have to voice grave misgivings regarding the path being pursued here by the President. As you are my State Representative and a Member in Good Standing of the Republican Party, I implore you to exert what influence you may on the President in this matter.

Speaking as a veteran, and someone who remembers fighting the Soviets in the 80s, I believe it is axiomatic that the Russian government cannot be trusted to uphold its end of any peace deal. In this PARTICULAR case, Russia has no clear military or national interest in doing so. By allowing Russia to keep the territory it has gained, we are effectively saying that it's OK for Russia to invade a peaceful neighbor, kill 10s of thousands of its people, kidnap 10s of thousands of its children, destroy billions of dollars in Ukrainian property. That one provision of the agreement negates EVERYTHING else the agreement contains, because everything else is a slap on the wrist.

Further than this, far from this being a 'win' for President Trump, it makes him look weak; someone who is easily manipulated by Putin (who, let us not forget, is himself former KGB). Further, it makes the US look weak, in particular to China. Make no mistake, China is looking on the Russia/Ukraine war with great interest. China has MANY reasons to invade Taiwan, not the least of which that, whether China takes Taiwan or not, if Taiwan's manufacturing capacity is greatly damaged or outright destroyed that will deal a crippling blow to American technological capacity for the several years it will take us to build out our own capacity again, years during which China will NOT be sitting idle.

I'm a firm believer in the notion that the best war is the one you never have to fight. Making America the laughing stock of the rest of the world does NOT "Make America Great Again". Our involvement in negotiating this deal does nothing to further American strategic interests, and frankly flies in the face of everything that I was taught and believed America stood for.

I find it stomach-curdling that an American Republican President would be involved in this travesty of an agreement, and I implore you PLEASE, exert whatever influence you may have to get President Trump to stop being Vladimir Putin's boy toy. If we must involve ourselves in these negotiations, then let us do so from a position that first starts with the recognition that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was both morally wrong and illegal under international law, and requires at minimum that Ukraine's pre-2014 borders be restored and recognized and that all Ukrainian citizens (both adults and children) be repatriated.

If it is not in us to recognize and push for those basic requirements, then we have no business calling ourselves Christians, much less 'Leaders of the Free World'.

 

[Gizmo]

Senator Schmitt responded to my e-mail on 11/21, this is my response on 11/25:

Senator Schmitt,

I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my letter regarding the Ukrainian Peace Talks. I watched your conversation with Fox News host Shannon Bream (Fox and Friends

with great interest.

I must say that I am gravely disappointed in your responses.

First, you quickly point out that President Trump "...ran on the idea of resolving this bloody war". I must respectfully disagree sir. He RAN on the idea of putting American first. He STATED REPEATEDLY that he would stop the war within 24 hours of becoming the President. He currently defends that statement by saying that he was "being sarcastic". The fact of the matter is that Putin has no intention of ending the war except on his terms. He has made that clear on MULTIPLE occasions.

Second, you state that President Trump "approaches this as a realist...Not how you want it to be...".

Why, then, does the peace plan cede to Russia territory that Russia doesn't currently control? That seems to be capitulation, NOT realism. Please help me understand how this is in America's best interests, much less Ukraine's?

Third, you state that "...the truth of the matter is that the Ukrainians are losing this war, they've been losing it for a long time...".

Let's talk about "Losing the war".

The Afghanis were losing the war in Afghanistan, right up until the U.S. pulled out. In fact, the Afghanis were losing the PREVIOUS war in Afghanistan right up until the RUSSIANS pulled out (You do remember that, I'm sure? I know I do).

The Vietnamese were losing the war in Viet Nam, right up until the U.S. pulled out.

These are all recent history with which you should be at least passingly familiar.

However, leave us not forget one very VERY important war in U.S. history; the battle for American Independence. By all rights, the U.S. should have LOST that war. In fact, the U.S. WAS losing that war. At one point, Britain controlled over 2/3 of American territory. We had a manpower problem (people deserted constantly). We had a munitions problem; frequently we were reduced to scavenging lead for musket balls. We had a supply problem; our troops were quite often starving and freezing to death. But we kept fighting and finally the British decided that it just wasn't worth it to them. How can we ask the Ukrainians to do any less when they are fighting for their EXISTENCE?

Fourth, you state that you think that President trying to "...maintain Ukrainian sovereignty, make sure there's a pathway to rebuild the county, and also lessen the likelihood that this will ever happen again." How, exactly, does this agreement achieve ANY of those points, and how does it further American interests in the region? As I said above, I'm really struggling to see how this is anything other than capitulation to Putin, and by extension Soviet-style imperialism, something which we fought pretty much my (and your) entire life. Further, the Budapest Memorandum clearly indicated that we would provide aid to Ukraine should it be attacked (another agreement, by the way, negotiated by the U.S. applying intense pressure to Ukraine, rather than Russia).

I could go on for some time about the other points you make, but I think my position is clear. In fact, about the only place you and I agree, it seems, is that Europe needs to stand up and take a stronger hand here since this is a largely European problem.

I am still struggling to understand how the current trajectory of American involvement in negotiations is conducive to American interests in the region? Beyond that, I am simply flummoxed as to how the current American involvement in these negotiations in any way encompasses the vision to "Make America Great Again"?

 

[Gizmo]

Senator Hawley responded to my e-mail on 12/1, I sent the below response on 12/2:

Senator Hawley,

I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my e-mail. I realize your time is limited, so I will try to keep my response brief.

I completely agree that Europe should be stepping up to handle the situation in Ukraine. Which is why I'm exceedingly puzzled by your response, which completely fails to address ANY of my comments.

Once again, in simple terms, HOW does American involvement in the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia HELP AMERICAN interests? How does our involvement "Make America Great Again"?. I'm struggling to see the upside for us here, particularly given how President Trump is being obviously played at every opportunity by Putin in these negotiations?

If we want to send a message to China, it seems to me that we would be better off to provide aid to Ukraine to help them terminate this war on a positive footing. That would simultaneously end the war in Ukraine while sending a strong message to China that we can and will oppose anyone who tries to invade a peaceful neighbor. Our wishy-washy stance with Ukraine in these negotiations, contrary to strengthening our stance with China, is actually serving to embolden China. Anyone watching our actions with respect to Ukraine, coupled with our attitude towards Taiwan, could be reasonably expected to believe that we will let China take Taiwan without a fight.

This does NOT serve American interests, in my opinion. On the contrary, it puts American interests at even GREATER risk. We do NOT have the industrial plant to replace Taiwan. At best, we can build what we need in maybe 5 years? But that's only true if we focus our attention here. So again, please help me understand because right now our President's involvement in the Ukraine/Russia peace talks (and your response to my previous e-mail) make no sense to me.

 

[Gizmo]

Senator Schmitt responded to my 11/25 e-mail on 12/12, and I sent my response on 12/13:

Mr. Schmitt,

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my previous missive. I appreciate that your time is precious, so I will try to keep my response brief.

You have failed to address ANY of the points that I raised. Instead, you have responded with platitudes and attention diverting comments; "Oh look, bright shiny pony over there!".

As a fellow Missourian, you should appreciate that I value plain speech.

If you can't give me a straight answer to the legitimate questions that I have raised, why should I vote for you again? Ok, sure, maybe you and I disagree (honest men often do and there is no shame in that), but if you can't at least respond directly to my comments, what good are you?

To recap:
How, specifically, does the President essentially capitulating to the Kremlin's demands and selling Ukraine down the river "Make America Great Again"? In what way does our involvement in the negotiations "counter foreign adversaries like China"? If anything, our current actions in the world theatre seem to be designed to ENCOURAGE our enemies!

I implore you sir, to explain this to me in language I can understand. It causes me great distress to see my President and my Congress People acting in a fashion that seems to be not only unproductive to the stated aims, but actively COUNTER productive.