Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
“Gradually reducing American aid to Ukraine and transferring the war funding to wealthy Europeans would have been a defensible policy. The Europeans, being geographically closer to both Russia and Ukraine, have always had much more at stake in terms of security in the conflict than has the United States. … Yet Trump went beyond that distancing policy, seemingly aiming to weirdly appease Putin by concocting a twenty-point peace plan that was embarrassingly favorable to Russia and then trying to put the screws to Ukrainian leader Zelensky to sign on board. … Putin thinks he is winning the war and will likely reject any peace settlement at this time; Trump should not be blinded to this reality, give up his weird affinity for Putin, and quit bullying Zelensky to make a disadvantageous and unsustainable peace agreement.” (12/30/25)