Who Side Are They On?

Reading this you have to wonder whose side is Trump on? Or is this the type of elections he wants here?

Trump envoy praises fraudulent Russian referendums as real

A possible Trump-backed Ukraine-Russia deal, pushed by Steve Witkoff, hinges on letting Russia keep territory it seized.

The Washington Post

by Glenn Kessler

May 5, 2025

“They’re Russian speaking. There have been referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule.”

— Steve Witkoff, real estate developer and Trump special envoy, in an interview with Tucker Carlson, March 21

The emerging Trump proposal to end the war caused by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine calls for de jure (legal) recognition of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and de facto recognition of the Russian occupation of parts of four other Ukrainian regions during the conflict. The plan was largely developed by Witkoff, a close friend of President Donald Trump with no prior experience in diplomacy.

[...]

This would be an extraordinary concession that conflicts with U.S. policy in place for generations — a refusal to recognize seizures of territory by other nations. Anyone growing up in the 1960s would remember that every atlas contained a notation that the United States did not recognize the absorption of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania into the Soviet Union. The same principle led the United States to organize a coalition of nations to oust Iraq from Kuwait after it invaded and renamed Kuwait its 19th province.

But get a load of the ballot questions...

On March 16, a referendum was held on whether Crimea should become part of Russia. But it’s ludicrous to say the results were valid. The referendum took place only nine days after it was announced, with television broadcasts by Ukrainian channels blocked.

Moreover, there was no option to vote “no” and return to the preinvasion status quo. Instead, the two options were to join Russia — what the ballot called “reunification” — or become a quasi-independent state beholden to Russia.

A McClatchy news report at the time reported serious irregularities. Tatars and the local Ukrainian community announced a boycott of the vote, but witnesses described a convoy of Russian minibuses and cars crossing the border and heading to polling stations in Tatar areas to cast ballots. Putin claimed 82 percent turnout — for a 96 percent “yes” vote — but McClatchy said data sent by local officials to the Russian FSB intelligence agency showed that only 34.2 percent of the Crimean population took part.

But our ambassador thought everything was peachy clean.