President Trump’s decision to allow Russia to supply almost 5 million tons of diesel fuel to the American and global energy markets over the next few months is an absolute disgrace. The new policy will supply billions more dollars in revenue to Russia with which Vladimir Putin can continue to wage his unprovoked war of conquest against Ukraine. Moreover, Trump has also said that Zelenskyy, by bombing Russian fuel depots and refineries, is to blame for the high cost of diesel in America, and that therefore Ukraine needs a new president. In reality, Trump needs a new policy which puts America back on the side of Ukraine, rather than on the side of Russia.
To be sure, Trump’s concerns about the rising cost of diesel fuel are legitimate. Whatever drives up the cost of diesel drives up the cost of any and all goods and services produced or otherwise affected by energy costs. And Trump knows that nothing angers the voters more and thus affects their behavior and decisions than rising prices. If, as seems likely, the Big Blue Wave washes over the GOP next month, much of it will be due to voter anger over inflation and affordability issues.
But whether the amounts of diesel which Trump wants to allow Putin to release into the global market will have an impact on inflation and affordability remains questionable. The Wall Street Journal reports that under the Trump-Putin agreement, Russia “would supply over 300,000 tons of diesel fuel” this month, “500,000 tons in November, and 1 million ‘immediately
Thereafter,’” and “an additional 3 million tons of diesel ‘within a short period of time,’ based on the condition of its refineries.” So at issue are 4.8 million tons of diesel total, or about 36 million barrels. But global consumption of diesel is about 28 to 30 million barrels a day, and American consumption is between 3.6 to 4.1 million barrels a day. So the addition of 36 million barrels more of Russian diesel would equal no more than a 10 day supply of diesel to the United States, or well less than a 2 day supply of diesel for global use. Hence the benefits of Russian diesel to the American and global markets are marginal.
But the additional revenues Russia could earn could be significant. The current cost per barrel of diesel is about $260 per barrel, but could be as high as $359 per barrel on the spot market. Assuming that it costs about $200 to produce a barrel, the net profit Russia can earn from the sale of 36 million barrels would be over $2 billion dollars. In other words, Trump’s deal with Putin amounts to giving him $2 billion in aid. How many more Ukrainians can Putin kill with an extra $2 billion?
And this deal is part of a larger pattern wherein Trump and his minions have relentlessly tried to pressure Zelenskyy into ending the war with Russia by conceding to Putin’s territorial demands, all the while blaming Zelensky for the war in the first place, since Zelenskyy refuses to surrender. True, previous presidents have worked with foreign dictators. Roosevelt and Truman collaborated with Stalin to defeat Hitler. Post-war presidents negotiated with their Soviet and Chinese counterparts to promote some degree of detente. George W. Bush fatuously said he looked into Putin’s eyes and saw his soul (Nobody ever made a more astute judgement about Putin than Hillary Clinton, who once said that because Putin was a former KGB agent, then “by definition, he has no soul”). But no president has collaborated as eagerly as Trump to facilitate the surrender of a democratic republic fighting for its life against an authoritarian dictatorship bent on conquest.
Trump has justified his attempt to end the war between Ukraine and Russia on terms favorable to Russia by saying he simply wants to stop the killing and wants peace. But what he does not understand or will not acknowledge is that should Russia win the war to reconquer Ukraine, once a part of the Soviet Empire, he may well be emboldened to try to either conquer other former parts of the Soviet Union and now part of NATO (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, for example) or at least make our NATO allies, such as Hungary or Poland, once again Russian satellites. After all, Putin has always claimed that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century. But the more aggressive Putin becomes towards our NATO allies, the greater the possibility of more war—with the United States sucked in under Article 5 of our treaty with other NATO members.
If Trump truly wants peace, then the United States should supply far more aid to Ukraine than it has during his administration, so that Ukraine can make the cost of war too heavy for Putin to want to continue it. And if Trump wants to understand why Zelenskyy has fought, and continues to fight despite all of his—Trump’s—efforts to stop him, Trump should bring himself to understand what both Zelenskyy and Putin already know: If Putin stops fighting, there’ll be no more war, but if Zelenskyy stops fighting, there’ll be no more Ukraine.
Malcolm L. Cross has lived in Stephenville since 1987 and taught politics and government at Tarleton for 36 years, retiring in 2023. His political and civic activities include service on the Stephenville City Council (2000-2014) and on the Erath County Republican Executive Committee (1990-2024). He was Mayor pro-tem of Stephenville from 2008 to 2014. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Stephenville Economic Development Authority since 2018, and as chair of the Erath County Appraisal District’s Appraisal Review Board since 2015. He is also a member of the Stephenville Rotary Club, the Board of Vestry of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and the Executive Committee of the Boy Scouts’ Pecan Valley District. Views expressed in this column are his and do not reflect those of The Flash as a whole.
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