The cliché has been that the ball is now in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s court docket. Not any longer. Putin has responded to U.S. appeals for a ceasefire within the warfare with Ukraine with a robust backhand, rejecting a ceasefire in his unprovoked invasion. Now the ball is in President Trump’s court docket. What’s going to he do?
On “Face the Nation” final Sunday, Ambassador Steve Witkoff, the U.S. Particular Envoy to the Center East, stated Putin and President Trump will maintain a telephone name this week. Witkoff stated he met in Moscow with Putin for greater than three hours. He referred to as it a “constructive momentum” that the 2 presidents will probably be speaking to one another, however gave no indication of the place that “momentum” would possibly lead.
Witkoff declined to reply a query by host Margaret Brennan about feedback made by French President Emmanuel Macron that Putin isn’t genuinely searching for peace. He stated he didn’t know what Macron had stated (straightforward sufficient to Google) and so wouldn’t remark.
On the identical program, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated, “It’s laborious to barter an everlasting finish of a warfare so long as they’re capturing at one another, and so the president needs a ceasefire. That’s what we’re engaged on, assuming we are able to get that finished.”
Putin has laid down heavy circumstances for a ceasefire and has claimed reaching one would possibly solely give Ukraine time to re-arm.
Let’s not neglect who the actual villain is and it’s not Ukraine. Russia now occupies about 20 p.c of that nation. Given Putin’s acknowledged purpose of reclaiming all the previous Soviet territories, it’s unlikely he’ll cede a foot to Ukraine.
Trump has repeatedly bragged concerning the private relationships he has with Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jung Un and China’s Xi Jinping. In a forthcoming column for the publication Impartial Arabia, Trump’s former Nationwide Safety Adviser John Bolton – a frequent critic of the president – writes: “Private relations have a spot in worldwide affairs, as in all issues, however they don’t seem to be decisive components in national-security decision-making, particularly for the world’s laborious males. … These authoritarians are cold-blooded and clear-eyed in understanding what their nationwide pursuits are, they usually pursue these pursuits unhesitatingly.”
Within the disastrous assembly two weeks in the past within the Oval Workplace with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump stated to Zelenskyy: “You’re not in place. You don’t have the playing cards proper now.” It could seem that Putin not solely has the playing cards, however your complete deck and he’s the vendor. Putin isn’t probably to surrender a lot, if something, by appeals to his ego. That may work in some instances with Trump, however dictators are totally different. Even a cursory have a look at historical past proves the purpose.
The issue all alongside is that beneath former President Biden the target was by no means clear. Biden offered simply sufficient arms to Ukraine to create a stalemate with Russia, however not sufficient for victory. Putin apparently believed he may wait out Biden, even whereas hundreds of his troopers had been slaughtered, pondering he would possibly get a greater cope with Trump.
After watching the movie “A Full Unknown” concerning the lifetime of Bob Dylan, I used to be reminded of when in 1963 Dylan and Joan Baez carried out a model of the Pete Seeger track “The place Have All of the Flowers Gone?”
The place have all of the troopers gone?
Gone to graveyards each one.
When will they ever be taught? When will they ever be taught?”
That sentiment seems to be of nice concern to President Trump, although his purpose of a ceasefire seems to be distant with out conceding victory to Putin. As for the Russian dictator, graveyards for his troopers look like of no concern in any respect.
Readers could electronic mail Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Search for Cal Thomas’ newest e book “A Watchman within the Evening: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (HumanixBooks).
