I am really concerned about the fate of Ukraine now that we have a Trump presidency, Donald has publicly praised Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. The public endorsement that “Putin is a smart guy” according to Trump has serious ramifications to the world, buoyed by any concessions he may win in Ukraine will catapult Putin onto his next invasion knowing western nations will be paralysed by both inaction and flagrant self-interest.

The Americans rattle on about liberty, freedom and all this other bullshit, yet they are not concerned about freedom in Ukraine, Trump appears to be pursuing an agenda of self-interest and rampant commercialism, he wants to do a deal with Putin and Ukraine is appearing to be on the losing side of any deal they can broker. There was no liberty for the brave Ukrainians who took on the Russian military regime and despite overwhelming odds, stopped the Russian advance in its tracks. The rhetoric from Vice President Vance is extremely concerning, he is clearly indicating he wants to unload Ukraine from US objectives.

Where Trump’s rhetoric about lowering oil prices is aimed solely at a domestic audience, the lowering of oil prices will have a negative effect on Russian oil revenues and their ability to fund the aggression against the people of Ukraine. Trump talks big on Russian action, he will be looking to cut some deals with Russia to get their hands on cheap Russian oil, this is not positive for Ukraine.

Then there are the threats of tariffs. The world has been moving towards free-trade agreements, a sustained period of international trade and relatively free movement of goods and services. This will all end, with tariffs imposed anywhere between 10% to 60% for some Chinese imports will start a trade war. One would expect countries to retaliate and impose reciprocal tariffs and charges on imports. As we saw in Australia, the massive import tariffs placed on Australian wine and seafood imports was detrimental to investment, jobs and livelihoods. If Trump and Vance want to contain China, an efficient manner would be to strangle Russia and tie up Putin’s supporter Xi Jingping.