‘Betrayal!’ CBS’s Cold War-Era Moscow Correspondent Issues Dire Warning For Trump Not to ‘Leave Ukraine In A Ditch’
Legendary CBS News reporter Marvin Kalb warned on Sunday that any deal President Donald Trump might strike with Russia’s Vladimir Putin risks leaving “Ukraine in a ditch.”
Trump said last week he had spoken to Putin by phone and that Russia’s president was eager to bring an end to three years of fighting in Ukraine. He teased the two leaders could soon meet but was non-committal last week when asked if Ukraine would be an equal party in peace talks.
Kalb — who also spent many years at NBC and once served as moderator of Meet the Press — gave his analysis of expected peace talks on CBS News Sunday Morning. After making note of the call between Trump and Putin, Kalb said he worried peace talks stood only to benefit Russia.
“I’ve been a journalist now for more than 70 years focusing on American foreign policy,” Kalb said. “I was CBS News Moscow correspondent, its diplomatic correspondent, and covered the one and only summit meeting in 1961 between President John Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.”
The veteran reporter said he had learned from his career covering Russia that if Trump was not prepared, his meet with Putin could be a “disaster.” He explained:
A summit soon between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin strikes me as a highly problematic gamble. Trump has described the war in Ukraine as a bloody mess and promised to end it quickly. Putin would also like to end it quickly but on his terms. Interestingly, his terms seemed to overlap with Trump’s. First, a ceasefire in place, meaning Russia keeps roughly 20% of Ukraine.
Second, Ukraine gets barred from NATO and likely the European Union. It becomes a neutral nation. Aligned not with the West, which is what it wants but with Russia. This deal could end the war, as Trump has promised. But Ukraine left out in the cold would justifiably scream betrayal. Pointing a bloody finger at the United States and launching on its own a desperate guerilla war against Russia. In another form, then the war would continue.
The 94-year-old Kalb added if a Trump-Putin deal was viewed as having betrayed Ukraine, NATO would cease to function – an outcome he said could have global implications.
“China might be encouraged to attack Taiwan, which it has often threatened to do,” Kalb concluded. “Would the US protect Taiwan more reliably than it did Ukraine? If this kind of Ukraine deal were to happen, it would send a chilling message that America has indeed changed. Remember, the United States promised the world that it would help Ukraine for as long as it takes. But a deal leaving Ukraine in a ditch would mean America’s role as a trusted global leader would now be a thing of the past.”
Watch the clip above via CBS News.
