Ukraine peace talks
President Trump launched Ukraine peace talks by trying to humiliate President Zelensky and pausing US aid; he is damaging America.
Trump talked to President Putin without Zelensky being present. He subsequently tried to persuade Zelensky, in front of television cameras, to sign away half of Ukraine’s mineral rights in exchange for a ceasefire in its war with Russia – but without any guarantee of a secure peace in return. The television show was watched by millions of viewers around the world, including Russian television – which gleefully used Zelensky’s humiliation as anti-Ukraine propaganda.
Trump later paused American military aid to Ukraine as a way of increasing pressure on Zelensky to sign the deal, causing great dismay in Ukraine and the Western Alliance. His behaviour can be seen as an attempt to look strong domestically. It is an example of a coercive foreign policy which will ultimately be to his country’s disadvantage. And it will not bring a lasting peace without a solid security guarantee.
Trump’s appeal to his MAGA base
As previously noted on this website, Trump is an authoritarian populist (6.3.2.6). His slogan, “Make America Great Again”, appeals to supporters who want a strong leader who is prepared to break the rules in the national interest – but his humiliation of a brave war leader has been widely condemned by other countries (and by many Americans). That, and his pausing of military aid, has greatly diminished US ‘soft power’.
Coercive foreign policy
Among a country’s foreign policy options (6.7.7), the use of coercion is eventually counter-productive. And soft power is both cheaper and more effective than hard power. Trump has continued with the coercive tactics of several of his Republican predecessors though. He has also undermined a rules-based world order that was founded to avoid wars, and which enabled a huge growth in American trade and prosperity.
A lasting peace for Ukraine
Zelensky’s desire for a security guarantee is based on Ukraine’s experience of Russia repeatedly breaking agreements in the past. Trump, though, has repeatedly refused to provide a US security backstop to any peacekeeping force offered by Europe and he sided with Russia in voting against a UN resolution supporting Ukraine territorial integrity. Trump’s pitch in the 2024 election was that he would stop the fighting in Ukraine, and he will lose face if he fails to do so, but he appears to care more about access to Ukraine’s minerals than about a lasting peace.
Whatever emerges from the Ukraine peace talks, Trump’s behaviour has harmed America’s reputation.
A just summary of the situation as far as it goes. But there is more to say. Trump has a decades-long history of cosying up to Putin and there has been ongoing Russian involvement in Trump’s affairs, eg the early purchase of apartments by Russia in the financially troubled Trump Towers, in order to help Trump. Now the Russians are claiming that their policies and Trump’s are in alignment. There is a lot more evidence to suggest that at best Trump is Russia’s ‘useful idiot’ and at worst may be actively working for them – i.e., he is a traitor. An extraordinary situation.
Suspicions that the Russians have some hold over Trump are hard to avoid. It is most likely, given his business interests, that he is involved in money laundering for them.
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