Two truce talks involving Donald Trump have failed in recent days. Vladimir Putin snubbed Trump’s push for a full 30-day ceasefire even after Ukraine agreed. Instead, Putin offered to refrain from striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure for 30 days, then broke the truce hours later. In Gaza, the US talked with Hamas about a truce and a hostage exchange. Those deals fell apart, so Israel launched air strikes against Hamas in Gaza, and the US launched strikes against Iran’s Houthis in Yemen.
What is now apparent is that Trump’s notion of quick fixes — involving immutable conflicts — does not work and is naive, along with his negotiating techniques and tactics. He has yet to use leverage against Putin, the perpetrator behind the wars in Ukraine (and Israel), but in Eastern Europe, he uses it against the victim, Kyiv, as well as its allies. In the Middle East, Trump displays diplomatic dysfunction. The Israeli war was started by Vladimir Putin, a fact that Trump ignores and fails to mention.
The result of Trump’s malpractice and bias in favor of Putin is well contextualized in Le Monde’s editorial of March 17. “He [Trump] will, in essence, be negotiating over how large a reward Russia will receive for its 11 years of open aggression against Ukraine, starting with its seizure of Crimea in 2014 and extending through the full-scale war Mr. Putin started three years ago.”
A Podcast
I’m taking a short break and may publish brief reports, but my next full-length newsletter will be published on March 31. But here’s my latest podcast about “All Things Trump” on Times Radio with Louis Sykes:
The hell of it that Donald is a bloated fool and patsy and MAGA et. al. still support him. To observe that he is also a greedy criminal is almost an afterthought. Still. I hope and pray that more and more of us keep holding these truths up to the light. Thanks, Diane. Enjoy your break.
trump is NOT interested in Ukraine's safety - he's eyeing the opportunity to slice-dice UKR with his buddy Putin who he enjoys praising. Even though Putin is a 'killer' & has no remorse for destruction he's caused in many countries- Trump idealizes him & therein lies the problem. WHAT where the Republican supporters thinking - voting this corrupt tRUMPER into office again?