Putin and Trump’s dance about negotiations to settle the Russo-Ukraine War is nothing more than a charade bringing more death and suffering to the Ukrainian people. Like Nero, they fiddle in the face of destruction as they dance about to achieve their nefarious schemes: Putin to render Ukraine defeated and impotent; for Trump a scalp for his ego and a promise of Russian riches. Like wolves they circle their prey without mercy seeking to fill their bellies at the expense of an exhausted, outgunned and overwhelmed Ukraine. The killings mean nothing to them.
The situation in Ukraine needs no introduction or explanation; the story is well-known and has dominated front page news since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2020 and its illegal occupation of Crimea in 2014. We all saw it play out on television.
Trump is no neutral judge capable of mediating the conflict. Trump is pro-Russian and has been since his first term as president. Who can forget the Trump-Putin Summit in Helsinki in 2018 when he brazenly supported Putin over U.S. intelligence agencies? Since then Trump has scrupulously avoided criticizing Putin or Russia. Who can forget the contentious Oval Office meeting February 28, 2025, where the president and his vice-president ambushed President Zelenskyy, claiming that Ukraine started the war? It was a shameful event, seriously dishonest and personally humiliating, to the petty point of chastising Zelenskyy for his informal dress.
We need to listen to our European allies. They have long shared a continent rife with Russian aggression. Ask Alexander Stubbs, President of Finland, what he thinks. Finland has had a long and tortured relationship with Russia dating from its time as a Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire (1809-1917) to its famed Winter War against the Soviets in 1939. Finns are, perhaps, the best judges of Russian intentions – their answer is summed up by their abandonment of neutrality in 2023 when they joined NATO and their present efforts to fortify the 830 mile border they share with Russia.
The United States should stand strong with our Allies to oppose Russian designs on Ukraine. We should enthusiastically provide arms, munitions, intelligence and moral support to the Ukrainians We should cooperate and work with our European allies to do the same. We should make it absolutely clear to the Russians that imperialism is no longer tolerated in the 21st century, that seizing neighbor’s territory and wars of aggression are in the past.
Above all, the United States should speak frankly and unequivocally with the Russians so that there are no misunderstandings. They should know that if they continue to prosecute the war that we and our allies will not abandon Ukraine. History tells us that aggression must be met with maximum strength quickly as appeasement or procrastination favors the aggressor.
Trump must be made to understand that if he continues to support Putin or abandons Ukraine, that he will go down in infamy as the president who caved in to the Russians ensuring their expansion in Central Europe. History will hang him in effigy and his name will become synonymous with Chamberlain, Quisling, Arnold and Petain.
Wouldn’t it be better if President Trump got serious and used all the power of his office to bring Russia and Ukraine together to secure peace and stop the killing? Doing so might be seen as the “ultimate deal,” both humanitarian and geopolitical, earning Trump the adulation he so desperately seeks. He could sign the treaty at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where Theodore Roosevelt ended the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Who knows?