Pay up, or else!

Yet another disturbing statement from President Trump, “We’re looking to do a deal with Ukraine, where they’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earths and other things”.

At the simplest level this is the equivalent of a police officer saying we will investigate your robbery if you give us a free coffee every day for a year. That is blackmail.

The other worry is that this implies that all aid, about $300 billion, is to be repaid. Aid is usually given without an expectation of repayment but not in the Trump financial world. Given the amount of damage that has been done to the country they are not going to be able to repay it, so what happens instead?

How can anyone, or country, place these demands on a war torn country, unless they are bullies?

Dennis Fitzgerald,

Melbourne, Australia