It can hardly be called a surprise, but the US President Trump has again proven to be an abominable negotiator. In his foolish hunt for a Nobel Peace Prize, the ‘Deal Maker’ in the White House still seems convinced that he can end the war in Ukraine with spawning the aggressor.
Trumps youngest diplomatic offensive is characterized by an equally rash and awkward flight forward: he had the red carpet rolled out in Alaska for Vladimir Putin, a dictator who started the war against Ukraine eleven years ago and who is being sought internationally as a war criminal. Trumps obsessive preferred treatment of Putin is embarrassing for all the values that the United States had stood for since the Second World War. As president of the – still – most powerful country on earth, Trump has the maps to speed up the end of Putin’s war. The US is able, with Europe, to squeeze the Russian economy in such a way that continuation of the war becomes impossible.
In recent months, Trump has been critically critical about the ongoing Russian attacks on the Ukrainian civilian population, but he never got an unambiguous conviction from his mouth. On the contrary: Trump continues to suggest that Ukraine started the war. Or his predecessor Biden. Former President Obama was blamed for the Russian annexation of Crimea this week.
Vladimir Putin is the only one who always originates the dance in Trumps shocking foreign policy. In Alaska, Trump gave almost everything away that was carefully built up in the summer months: the threat of heavy sanctions if Putin would not agree to a cease-fire.
Without Putin having to make any concession, everything is back on the table after ‘Alaska’: the sanctions and the American requirement to achieve a ceasefire. With a smile, the Russian president had succeeded in trumps Trump back to the Ukraine jargon that the Kremlin has been working for years.
Trump presented the meeting, as usual, as a resounding success because he would have initiated a direct meeting between Putin and President Zensky, followed by a trilateral consultation with Trump himself. There is even speculation about possible locations.
But here too Trump turned out not to be interested in the details that inevitably belong to peace talks. He was all about the moment: the world leader who ‘ends’ his sixth (or seventh) war. In the real world that is very different: the chance seems to be minimal that Putin takes a seat at one table with Zensky in the foreseeable future.
After the American fiasco in Anchorage, it was up to Ukraine and his European allies to pick up the shards. No fewer than six European leaders and NATO boss Mark Rutte rushed to Washington last Monday in the Kielsky to restore the damage that Trump had caused as much as possible. It must be said: the Ukraine war, the Russian threat and the capriciousness of the unreliable ally in Washington have ensured that Europe is becoming more mature and increasingly operating as unity. In the past year there was undeniably profit.
But the question is whether the high European visit has improved the position of Ukraine. After Putin’s imperial reception on American soil, and with the sanction threat from the table, he has no reason to stop the rocket attacks on the Ukrainian cities. Trump seems to have forgotten those bloody attacks – which just continued around the top in Alaska – again.
Hurry American-European consultation on security guarantees for a possible peace force is always useful, but also premature as long as Putin is not interested in a file or sustainable peace. Because no misunderstanding about that: Moscow does not mention a word about peace; Ukraine is simply not recognized as a sovereign nation. As long as Putin is not genuinely prepared for peace talks-nothing in that direction-is vague American commitments about ‘NATO-like’ security guarantees for Europe and Ukraine are nothing more than that. Moreover, Trumps world has no guarantees; The mood can change tomorrow. Europe now knows that he would rather do business with Putin. And the intended successor of the 79-year-old president, JD Vance, has much less up with Ukraine. Moreover, it would be naive to think that Moscow just agrees with a file that should be maintained with European troops, NATO aircraft and American warships on the Black Sea.
It is not a florissant prospect for Ukraine and Europe. As long as the European allies are unable to force Russia for peace, they will have to continue to use all diplomatic means to keep the fickle American ally inboard. And, if possible, to reason.