Even If you accept Donald Trump’s ideas that international relations are solely matters for transactional deals and savvy negotiating, you’d have to wonder about the administration’s strategy to end the war in Ukraine.
Speaking to NATO allies in Brussels, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave away whatever leverage Trump would bring to negotiations with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Hegseth said it was “illusionary” to believe that Ukraine could retain lands invaded by Russia and that Trump does not support Ukraine’s membership in NATO as part of any settlement.
The remarks came on the same day that Trump and Putin talked for 90 minutes, and Trump said he was sending a team to settle the war in Ukraine. There were few useful details released about the conversation, other than describing it as opening the idea of talks and a certain warmth for exchange visits with Putin, who remains under charges of war crimes.
Insistence on national sovereignty and the threat of NATO resistance are what keeps Ukraine from ceding Crimea and eastern Ukraine to Russian aggression. Otherwise the “deal” is hearing what Russia wants to grab — today — without a halt for what it will try next.
It sounds a whole lot like the way to peace is caving in a proxy war with Russia, abandoning European allies, and forcing Ukrainians living with serious war wounds to suffer the consequences. It sounds only like how much territory Ukraine will have to cede, not whether a country’s borders matter in the face of an aggressive empire-building neighbor — a point now rebounding around the globe.
Hegseth also told unsurprised European allies that the U.S. was demanding that they take on more financial support for Ukraine, and that Americans were turning their attention to rivalries with China. It turns out America First means America Only.
Combine the Hegseth pronouncements with efforts to celebrate Russia’s agreement on a prisoner exchange with the United States, Trump’s continuing kind words for Putin, and confirmation of Tulsi Gabbard as a national intelligence director who seems to prefer Russia disinformation over American intelligence information, and you have the makings of an overly friendly Russia relationship and a withdrawal of the U.S. as a leading voice for democracy.
Shifting Friends and Foes
Sprinkle in Trump’s message that continuing American aid is dependent now on getting access to Ukrainian rare minerals to “get something” in return for aiding a country that has been invaded, and repeated threats to shut off weapons sees as American treasure. Add in the chaos coming from Trump’s grab for a Gaza cleared of Palestinians, a global tariff war, lack of China policy, and increasingly serious attempts to take over Greenland, Panama and Canada. It feels as if we are on a dangerous slide in this country’s role in the world.
Together, the “deals” being sought reflect bully behavior over respect and the spreading of fear of the United States rather than confidence in its leadership, steadiness and values. The words that Trump speaks are about seeking peace through ending conflicts, but the realities he is creating tell a different story.
In Ukraine, it is unlikely that Volodymyr Zelensky will suddenly agree to cede whole sections of his country just to help Trump believe that he is a peacemaker, and intense fighting will continue inside Russia itself. Even if he did, Putin will recognize the Trump strategy as weakness and start planning more incursions toward Kyiv or towards the Baltic nations, Moldovia, and other surrounding territories towards restoring a perceived Soviet empire.
As David Ignatius of The Washington Post noted, “The chummy tone of the American and Russian statements led some Ukraine supporters to worry that Trump and Putin might be ready to do a deal over Kyiv’s head — with concessions that reward Russian aggression and leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attacks,” though also mentioned were a 600-mile ceasefire line to be backed by international (not U.S.) troops. A New York Times analysis looked at how the Trump-Putin call underscored a belief that settling world problems still remains an issue for leaders of big powers simply to decide themselves.
Doesn’t NATO have to be part of any negotiations, or is Trump expecting simply to impose a settlement on all parties, including a commitment of European troops? Is anyone listening to Ukrainians?
In the Middle East, we’re about to see this weekend that announcing to Palestinians that they must abandon a homeland only will enflame the region in renewed conflict — another example of Trump’s bullyism. In China, the pullback from Ukraine will be read as permission to extend hemispheric control and a roadmap to take over Taiwan. Iran already is poised for a coming conflict with Israel and the U.S.
Meanwhile, Mexico and Canada are bristling with upset over trade tariffs and the repeated Trump idea that Canada should cease to exist as a separate country — without significant say. European allies are separating from the United States as an unreliable ally. Countries like India, Brazil and those in Africa are reconsidering their relationship with an America that summarily cuts off aid for a more reliable and listening China.
Rather than meaningless one-line slogans from Trump — or worse, blanket ridicule for anything done by prior administrations — we need some certainty from the White House, something that reflects a more thoughtful view of the complexities we face in the world. Even considering Trump’s own perspective, businesses need stability to grow, and nations need reliability to plan.
Giving away leverage to your negotiating partner hardly seems the best foot forward even in a one-off deal.
1 Comment
Never in my nearly 8 decade lifetime, have I seen a more motley group of undisciplined, unprofessional, and unprincipled Cabinet nominees than the trump administration has cobbled together. It’s obvious to anyone that this is a very bad joke on the American societal fabric. It shows just how much trump disrespects this country and it’s people. Being the ultimate CON MAN’s con man, trump has buffaloed the public on so many issues, Yes, LIED would be more accurate, but he’s done that all his life. Hopefully this time he won’t get the opportunity to leave 1.1 million people dead from a controllable pandemic. The donald loves to cause calamities, then blame others for his gross errors in judgement, of course, it’s never his fault?! Has he ever been man enough to admit his many FAILURES in life? Narcissists never do, far too embarrassing, ruins their gold plated image of themselves.
Uncle donnie proves, once again, the he like WC Fields, will ‘never give a sucker an even break’. (That is if you don’t include his failed Atlantic City casinos! From which he still sleazed out beaucoup $! + a cool $3.5Mil from papa in an attempt to bail him out! Can you trust someone who would rip off his own Dad?)
The ‘orange one’ will continue to pedal his tripe, in that, you can be assured. The avalanche of BS will continue until the suckers who, held their nose to vote for this clown, yet again, start to feel the pain inflicted on them by his ignorance, incompetence, and malfeasance.