Outside the Ukrainian educational and cultural center in a quiet Pennsylvania suburb of Jenkintown, on the outskirts of Philadelphia, a banner expressed unqualified gratitude: “Thank you USA for supporting Ukraine.”
asserted
banner → express → Ukraine
Irene Skulsky, a retired teacher in her late 70s, voiced indignation at Donald Trump’s sudden turn against her ancestral homeland, which she believed had come close to killing her son, Darko, and a desire to punish his fellow Republicans at next week’s midterm elections.
asserted
she → voice → elections
“When we vote, we have to vote with Ukraine in our hearts,” she told her fellow retirees, gathered to hear a presentation by the Daughters of Knyahynya, a women’s group delivering military equipment to Ukrainian special forces on the frontline.
asserted
she → vote → frontline
“I know many people here are Republicans, but we can’t go according to party lines now.
uncertain
we → know → lines
Ukraine needs us.
asserted
Ukraine → need → us
They need our support.
asserted
They → need → support
We need to shift the balance of power in Congress and in the Senate.”
Days earlier, Skulsky told fellow members at a meeting of the Ukrainian American Senior Citizens Association, Darko had been sitting in traffic en route to work in Kyiv when Russian drone missiles slammed into five cars immediately ahead of him.
There had been no prior alert, allegedly as a result of a decision by Washington to suspend its intelligence-sharing arrangement with Ukraine that has acted as an early warning system against missiles attacks since Russia invaded in February 2022.
In recent weeks, Trump – who pledged during his victorious 2024 presidential election campaign to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict within 24 hours of returning to office – appears to have abandoned Ukraine.
uncertain
who → need → Ukraine
He struck a deal with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to buy nearly 5m tonnes of diesel, overriding US sanctions on Moscow.
asserted
He → strike → Moscow
He called on Ukrainians to replace the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
asserted
He → call → president
His administration was accused of throttling the Ukrainian military’s access to the Starlink satellite internet service.
asserted
administration → accuse → service
And while the Trump administration denied that it had stopped sharing intelligence this month, as relations with Ukraine nose-dived, Zelenskyy has said his country received no advance warning from US intelligence networks of two Russian missile attack waves.
asserted
country → deny → waves
Darko escaped injury, but several people in the vehicles in front were killed in the strikes, according to Skulsky.
uncertain
people → escape → Skulsky
Her frustration spilled over to include Trump’s fellow Republicans, whom she said were “selling our souls” rather than standing up to the president.
asserted
she → spill → president
“Republicans are afraid of Trump,” she said.
asserted
she → say → Trump
“They’re afraid to lose their position.
asserted
They → ’re → position
I think their heart is with Ukraine, but they’s sitting on their hands.”
asserted
they → think → hands
Many American Ukrainians will express their outrage at the polls on 3 November, according to Eugene Luciw, a retired lawyer and local representative of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, an advocacy group.
uncertain
Ukrainians → express → America
“For [American] Ukrainians, I believe foreign policy is unquestionably the No 1 issue,” he said.
asserted
he → believe → Ukrainians
“But I think even the average American without the added affinity of a homeland in Europe is going to see foreign policy as a very important issue.
asserted
American → think → issue
“It’s beginning to reach people’s minds and hearts that something very important is brewing in Europe.
asserted
something → begin → Europe
If Ukraine loses this war, we have the beginnings of world war three.”
asserted
we → lose → war
The most recent Ukraine development is the latest in a trio of Trump foreign policy decisions with the potential to hurt Republicans when Americans head to the polls next week.
asserted
Americans → hurt → polls
More relevant to voters’ living costs – a key issue in this election, according to polls – has been Trump’s protracted war with Iran, and his determination to impose tariffs on imports from much of the world.
uncertain
war → accord → world
The Iran war, launched with Israel in February, shows no signs of ending despite Trump’s early claims that it would be a short-term “excursion” certain to end in the “unconditional surrender” of Tehran’s Islamic regime.
uncertain
it → launch → regime
Instead, Trump has reportedly drawn up plans to launch renewed strikes against Iran after the midterms as he seeks to break Iran’s grip on the strait of Hormuz, an energy choke point that was the conduit for one-fifth of the world’s energy supplies before the Tehran regime closed it in response to being attacked.
uncertain
regime → draw → response
The strait’s closure has resulted in soaring global oil prices, which have been passed on to US consumers in the form of higher prices for petrol and diesel, which is vital for supply chains and US farmers.
asserted
which → result → chains
Polls have consistently shown voters’ disapproval of Trump’s handling of the war, and his management of the economy and inflation.
asserted
Polls → show → economy
Roughly 70% are now critical of both, according to a recent AP-Norc survey.
uncertain
% → accord → survey
The war’s economic impact has compounded the inflationary effects of Trump’s tariffs, which has affected the prices of consumer goods and increased costs for manufacturers by increasing the costs of imported raw materials such as steel, copper and aluminum.
asserted
which → compound → steel
The tariff regime has also strained Washington’s relations with once-close allies – perhaps most visibly with Canada, the US’s second-biggest trading partner.
asserted
regime → strain → Canada
Ties between the two neighbors plunged to a new low in August following the collapse of bilateral trade talks.
asserted
Ties → plunge → talks
Following the collapse, the Trump administration imposed tariffs on $20bn of Canadian imports – including cars, forestry and dairy produce – triggering a retaliatory tit-for-tat response from Canada’s government, led by the prime minister, Mark Carney.
asserted
administration → follow → minister
In Michigan, which shares a border with Canada, even Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers released an ad calling on Trump to end the trade war and declared: “Canada is not our enemy.”
asserted
Canada → share → war
Trump has articulated his vision with characteristic bullishness.
asserted
Trump → articulate → bullishness
After January’s US attack on Venezuela, during which it ousted the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, he dubbed his strategy the “Donroe doctrine” – a play on the Monroe doctrine, named after the 19th US president, which states that the western hemisphere should be Washington’s exclusive domain.
asserted
hemisphere → oust → president
He bragged about extracting Venezuela’s oil resources and fantasized about making the country “the 51st state” in a speech this week in Corpus Christi, Texas, during which he showed off a tanker he claimed was carrying 1m barrels of oil and repeated a phrase – “to the victors belong the spoils” – that startled foreign leaders when he first uttered it at last month’s gathering of the United Nations general assembly.
asserted
he → brag → assembly
There are fears that his neo-imperialist instincts could be applied after the midterms to Cuba, where he has repeatedly pledged to topple the communist regime that has ruled for the past 67 years.
uncertain
that → be → years
Meanwhile, Trump’s fixation with autocratic leaders has been extended to China’s president, Xi Jinping.
asserted
fixation → extend → president
Having already met Xi at a summit in Beijing this year before hosting him at the White House, Trump will go to China again next month to meet the Chinese leader.
asserted
Trump → meet → leader
On a range of issues, he has shown disdain for diplomatic niceties – dispensing with seasoned diplomats to instead rely on Steve Witkoff, a real estate investor and attorney with no background in foreign policy, and Jared Kushner, his businessman son-in-law, as negotiators over matters as intricate as Iran, Gaza and Ukraine.
Yet Trump’s latest Ukraine turn carries special resonance, not least because it risks a dramatic rupture with Washington’s European Nato allies, who are heavily invested in Kyiv’s protection as a first line of defence.
asserted
who → show → defence
…and 39 more, not listed.
The Aporia
