Trump’s trip to Alaska to meet Vladimir Putin was a significant event in American political history, but it turned out to be an epilogue to “The Art of the Kneel.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky learned the hard way about the political proverb “When you not at the table, you’re on the menu.” Trump accepted Putin’s demands for territorial annexations, but the absence of a ceasefire boons Putin and a problem for the undermanned Ukrainians. European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, pushed Trump for U.S. guarantees against Russian expansion. The absence of a ceasefire is a boon to Putin and a problem for the undermanned Ukrainians who have held off invaders for years against all odds. NATO heads of state still remember a fateful summit meeting when British Prime Minster Neville Chamberlain surrendered Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler’s not so tender mercies. Letting the Russian strongman take Eastern Ukraine would simply reward Russian aggression and encourage him to take even more territory. Trump’s Vice President JD Vance, who is a vocal opponent of military support for Ukraine, undermined his own president’s bargaining power. The public should worry and worry hard when it has a president who can’t stand up to foreign dictators.
Trump’s recent reluctance to confront Putin at the Alaska summit demonstrates his tendency to back down. Mr. Khaled Sadek 1908
