LOS ANGELES (OC).–Meeting in Anchorage, Alaska at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin got clarity over the next steps in potentially ending the bloody three-and-a-half-year-old Ukraine War. Trump went into the meeting with Putin thinking he had to get tough with Putin to get him to agree to a ceasefire or at least a pause in the air war but realized after hashing things out over three-and-a-half hours that there was no point to a ceasefire without advance work on a peace deal. Trump has been influence by European Union calls for more sanctions thinking that would push Putin into a ceasefire. Ukraine’s 47-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky encouraged Trump and the EU to hit Russian with more economic sanctions. Trump came away from the meeting with Putin realizing that more pressure on Putin won’t work.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer repeated the EU position that only getting tough with Putin would push him into a ceasefire or peace talks. “Until [Putin] stops his barbaric assault, we will keep tightening the screws on his war machine with even more sanctions,” Starmer said, repeating the same approach as Zelensky. Trump realized that it’s more important for the U.S. to continue developing normal diplomatic ties with Russia than joining the EU in threatening new sanctions against the Kremlin. “Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees,” read a statement from the EU, stating for the record that there should be no limits on Ukraine’s armed forces or to seek NATO membership. EU conditions would all but kill and hopes of any peace deal with the Russian Federation. Brussels seems intent on slapping Putin with more sanctions thinking it will push him to peace talks.
Brussels has essentially continued the Biden policy of proxy war with the Russian Federation. Trump realized that that war in Ukraine was going nowhere, actually destroying Ukraine and losing more sovereign territory. Putin grinds away on the 600-mile battlefield in Donbas taking more Ukrainian territory by the day. After three-and-a-half-years of war, Zelensky has lost some 25% of Ukraine’s best sovereign territory. Trump warned Zelensky Feb. 28 in the Oval Office that he should settle with Putin to spare Ukraine more carnage and destruction. Zelensky has been playing a macho game with Putin, getting as much free cash-and-arms as he can coax out of the European Union. “Putin got his red carpet treatment with Trump, while Trump got nothing. As feared, not ceasefire, not peace,” said former German Amb. Wolfgang Ischinger.
Trump’s critics don’t get U.S. foreign policy and national security concerns, certainly not Zelensky or anyone in the EU. When Biden decided to wage proxy war with the Kremlin in Ukraine, he destroyed decades of diplomacy, détente, arms control and global cooperation with Russia. Ending global cooperation was Russia was a bad idea for U.S. foreign policy and national security. Before the Feb. 24, 2022 Ukraine War, the U.S. had a long-stand policy to get along with Russia and find common ground on a host of global issues, including nuclear nonproliferation. Biden killed all prospects of nuclear nonproliferation and global cooperation with Russia. Trump sees the benefit of getting along with Russia, at least to the extent that it benefits U.S. national security. Zelensky would like to dictate U.S. foreign policy and national security but has no right to do that.
Putin suggested with a wry smile that the next time Trump and he meet should be in Moscow. “Next time in Moscow,” Putin said. Trump said he might “get a little heat on that one,” but could “possibly see it happening,” showing the kind of cordiality, exactly what you want from two world leaders. “No real progress—a clear 1-0 for Putin—no new sanctions. For the Ukrainians nothing. For Europe, deeply disappointing,” said Ischinger, the former German Washington ambassador. Ischinger mirrors the views of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz who was considering, just recently, supplying Zelensky with long-range German-made Taurus missiles. Putin told Merz that would make German and enemy combatant to the Russian Federation. Trump’s meeting with Putin reminded him of the value of diplomacy over the aggressive mood in Brussels.
EU officials, like Merz, don’t know what they’re doing threatening Putin with more economic sanctions, all because of Zelensky’s relentless pressure. Trump found out quickly that Zelensky is a self-serving politician who would just like to keep the status quo of receiving copious amounts of cash-and-arms from the U.S. and EU. Meeting Putin reminded Trump firsthand that there were more important considerations to U.S. foreign policy and national security than adopting Ukraine’s security. “The starting point of the proposal is the definition of collective security clause that would allow Ukraine to benefit from the support of its partners, including the USA, ready to take action in case it is attacked,” said Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni. Meloni and other EU members seem willing to risk WW III to defend Ukrainian security, Trump is not.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
