Trump = Peace

Among the more outlandish claims that Democrats and progressives made when Trump first ran for president back in 2016 was that he would, as an erratic and aggressive Commander-in-Chief, surely start World War III. Well, we all know how that turned out. Trump resolved plenty of conflicts created and/or cultivated by the brainiacs in the Deep State, but he didn’t start any new ones. America’s rivals gave Trump a wide berth, in fact, partly because they feared that, if he ever used force, it would be overwhelming and decisive. That’s a little thing called “deterrence,” which the hawks in D.C. have forsaken of late in favor of a blanket policy of intervention, coupled with escalation.

Now that Trump is gearing up for a second term, there is every prospect that he can repeat his performance from 2017-2021 and thus dial back the insanity and bloodshed that Biden and Co. have wrought internationally. First on Trump’s list must be putting an end to the Russia-Ukraine War, which has cost us, and other Western countries, hundreds of billions of dollars, and has already led to around 200,000 military fatalities and at least 12,000 civilian deaths. Worse, though, is the fact that, by constantly ratcheting up our involvement and by goading the Ukrainians to undertake ever more provocative strikes on Russian soil, we have created a situation in which the further widening of the conflict, and even the use of nuclear weapons, is alarmingly plausible. No can say for sure what the strategic and global consequences would be if Russia used nukes against its neighbor, but the policies of the Biden Administration, supported by hawks in both parties and the foreign policy and defense establishments of almost all Western countries, have essentially dared Russia to do exactly that. And why? Because we insist that NATO should be allowed to spread its dominion ever farther to the east, regardless of Russia’s understandable objections? No, we desperately need to reconsider this policy of brinkmanship. Now is the time for Trump to rescue Ukraine, NATO, Europe, the United States, and indeed Russia and the entire world, from this pointless bloodbath, and from the serious risk of global annihilation that attends it.

Trump understands that the way to end the Russia-Ukraine War is first by ending the fighting itself. This means an immediate ceasefire on all fronts. Once the bleeding is stopped, both parties can sit down at the negotiating table and hammer out a more permanent peace, and hopefully a formula for coexistence.

As almost everyone realizes, part of this process will be an acknowledgment by all sides that Ukraine will never be in NATO. While the West may have some future role in safeguarding Ukrainian sovereignty, it is infeasible and undesirable for NATO to include a country as dysfunctional and exposed as Ukraine. More importantly, Russia will never accept such a scenario, and Russia has, quite clearly, the capacity to destroy Ukraine, and, failing that, to make life in what remains of an independent Ukraine unbearable. Giving up on the NATO fantasy is step one to ending this conflict, once and for all.

Another element of the peace process between Ukraine and Russia must be an understanding that the future status of large parts of what was Ukraine, as of 2014, including the Donbass and Crimea, will have to be decided later and in deference to the wishes of the people living there. Ukraine will not be able to reclaim effective control over all the territory that formally belongs to it – just as China is unable to occupy and govern Taiwan, despite the fact that most of the world recognizes the island as part of China. Simply put, national sovereignty and territorial integrity are important principles in the international order, but they are not the only considerations worthy of a statesman’s attention. Pragmatism and compassion demand that sometimes these theoretical ideals must be sacrificed to achieve the greater good.

Lastly, Ukraine, Russia, Europe, the United States, and other interested parties must commit themselves to a comprehensive effort to heal the wounds caused by this unfortunate and unnecessary war, which means both rebuilding the areas devastated by the fighting as well as reconciling communities, cultures, and nations that have been raised to a fever pitch of mutual hatred. There are, objectively, no good reasons why Ukrainians, Russians, Europeans, and Americans cannot get along, but the difficulties of overcoming the resentments and grievances that have built up over years, decades, and even centuries should not be underestimated. Above all, people implacably committed to hostility and violence should never again be placed in positions of power, whereas people, like Trump, who believe in the promise of peace should be given a chance to cement it.

The road ahead will not be easily traveled, but we can all be thankful that the warmongers in the Biden Administration are about to be sidelined. The incoming Trump Administration will give the long-suffering peoples of Ukraine and Russia an opportunity to be peaceable neighbors to one another once again, and it will give the peoples of the world the chance to breathe a sigh of relief, because World War III will once again be a distant and unlikely prospect.