When it comes to the United States and our allies, one of the great failures of American foreign policy since the end of World War II is this bizarre idea in the United States that if our allies are imperfect, it somehow makes sense to abandon them.
This is what we did in Vietnam. Our allies were imperfect, so we abandoned them, and then the Viet Cong took over. The same thing happened in Afghanistan, where our allies were seriously imperfect. And by imperfect, I mean there were a lot of terrible people involved in the Northern Alliance, along with tremendous corruption in Afghanistan’s government. The Taliban, it turns out, were significantly worse.
So when it comes to determining what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine and what should happen next, the question is less about whether Ukraine is perfect. It certainly is not. The questions are: What exactly does Russia want? What is in America’s best interest?
I can tell you what is not in America’s best interest: a larger, more powerful Russia. In determining how to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war that originally broke out in 2014 with the Russian takeover of the Donbas and Crimea, and then was reignited by the full-scale Russian invasion of 2022, it’s simply not enough to try to figure out what the “rational middle ground” looks like.
What the Trump administration is currently trying to do is find a solution. Well, you can find a solution, but unless you have a way to actually implement the solution, any solution you propose is meaningless.
No matter how hard you try, you cannot impose the solution from the outside in the way the United States would if, for example, we had boots on the ground — and we don’t want boots on the ground. That means you somehow have to get the Russians to the table. Both sides need to be at the table. The Ukrainians are at the table. Right now, however, the Russians are not at the table.
America is not the dominant force in the region, nor do we want to be. However, the Ukrainians being at the table means it’s now time for the Russians to come to the table. So, how do you get them there?
As Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned in our interview, he’s already agreed to an immediate three-day ceasefire. The Russians have not.
He’s already agreed to a rare earth minerals deal with the United States that is heavily slanted toward the United States.
WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show
We already know what the Ukrainians want. They want the Russians to stop the war. Again, Ukrainians did not start this war — they did not cross the Russian border.
They want security guarantees, more durable security guarantees than the ones they gave in 1994 to give up their nuclear weapons. The Ukrainians want security guarantees that are material realities, not just promises.
The Ukrainians have already figured out that European and American promises tend to fade over time. They gave up their own nuclear weapons for a promise that the U.S. and the UK would respect Ukrainian territorial sovereignty, and it didn’t work out very well for them.
The Ukrainians want the freedom to pursue a closer relationship with the EU and NATO. That makes sense because the Russians continue to press while the Ukrainians want to press back the other way.
President Zelensky basically wants what happened at the end of the Korean War: an armistice. In 1953, South Korea and North Korea drew a line and created a demilitarized zone. They agreed to a cessation of hostilities and repatriation of peace. Then the war ended.
Officially, the war is still active but in practice the war ended because North Korea understands that if it crosses the South Korean border, it will be obliterated, partially because of the American troops stationed on that border.
Now, to be clear, the Ukrainians are not asking for American troops to be stationed on their border, but they’re ready for an armistice today. They do want security guarantees. We know what they want. They’re at the table.
The real question in all of this, the question that people do not want to ask, is what exactly do the Russians want? What would bring the Russians to the table?
Well, we actually know what the Russians want.
According to a speech Vladimir Putin gave last June, he wants:
- No NATO membership for Ukraine, ever.
- Ukrainian recognition of Crimea and Donbas as Russian territory.
- Ukraine’s demilitarization and what he calls “Denazification.” What he really means is he wants the installation of a puppet regime in Kyiv and the lifting of all anti-Russia sanctions.
That’s just called surrender.
Now, Ukraine can’t surrender her entire government and autonomy and live at the whim of Vladimir Putin, who has literally killed tens of thousands of Ukrainians in an aggressive war and kidnapped tens of thousands of Ukrainian children into Russia.
So again, I ask, what would get Russia to the table?
Now, Steve Witkoff is supposedly a magical negotiator. President Trump has deployed him to Iran, Gaza, and now Ukraine, and seems to think that either Ukraine is the problem or that Russia can be wheedled into dropping its core demands, and that if you tweet hard enough at them, Vladimir Putin will suddenly become friendly. Witkoff and the administration are now threatening to walk away from negotiations if the two sides don’t come together.
This misses the entire point.
Russia would love for that to happen. They want the war to continue, because when Russia says they want negotiation, that’s code for they want a continuation of the war.
What they want is either to take giant chunks out of Ukraine until they eat the whole thing over time, or they want the war to continue until the West gives way.
Why? Because Ukraine is extraordinarily key to Russia’s entire vision of itself as an empire. And that empire is geared in absolutely irremediable fashion against the United States of America.
[#item_full_content]
[[{“value”:”
When it comes to the United States and our allies, one of the great failures of American foreign policy since the end of World War II is this bizarre idea in the United States that if our allies are imperfect, it somehow makes sense to abandon them.
This is what we did in Vietnam. Our allies were imperfect, so we abandoned them, and then the Viet Cong took over. The same thing happened in Afghanistan, where our allies were seriously imperfect. And by imperfect, I mean there were a lot of terrible people involved in the Northern Alliance, along with tremendous corruption in Afghanistan’s government. The Taliban, it turns out, were significantly worse.
So when it comes to determining what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine and what should happen next, the question is less about whether Ukraine is perfect. It certainly is not. The questions are: What exactly does Russia want? What is in America’s best interest?
I can tell you what is not in America’s best interest: a larger, more powerful Russia. In determining how to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war that originally broke out in 2014 with the Russian takeover of the Donbas and Crimea, and then was reignited by the full-scale Russian invasion of 2022, it’s simply not enough to try to figure out what the “rational middle ground” looks like.
What the Trump administration is currently trying to do is find a solution. Well, you can find a solution, but unless you have a way to actually implement the solution, any solution you propose is meaningless.
No matter how hard you try, you cannot impose the solution from the outside in the way the United States would if, for example, we had boots on the ground — and we don’t want boots on the ground. That means you somehow have to get the Russians to the table. Both sides need to be at the table. The Ukrainians are at the table. Right now, however, the Russians are not at the table.
America is not the dominant force in the region, nor do we want to be. However, the Ukrainians being at the table means it’s now time for the Russians to come to the table. So, how do you get them there?
As Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned in our interview, he’s already agreed to an immediate three-day ceasefire. The Russians have not.
He’s already agreed to a rare earth minerals deal with the United States that is heavily slanted toward the United States.
WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show
We already know what the Ukrainians want. They want the Russians to stop the war. Again, Ukrainians did not start this war — they did not cross the Russian border.
They want security guarantees, more durable security guarantees than the ones they gave in 1994 to give up their nuclear weapons. The Ukrainians want security guarantees that are material realities, not just promises.
The Ukrainians have already figured out that European and American promises tend to fade over time. They gave up their own nuclear weapons for a promise that the U.S. and the UK would respect Ukrainian territorial sovereignty, and it didn’t work out very well for them.
The Ukrainians want the freedom to pursue a closer relationship with the EU and NATO. That makes sense because the Russians continue to press while the Ukrainians want to press back the other way.
President Zelensky basically wants what happened at the end of the Korean War: an armistice. In 1953, South Korea and North Korea drew a line and created a demilitarized zone. They agreed to a cessation of hostilities and repatriation of peace. Then the war ended.
Officially, the war is still active but in practice the war ended because North Korea understands that if it crosses the South Korean border, it will be obliterated, partially because of the American troops stationed on that border.
Now, to be clear, the Ukrainians are not asking for American troops to be stationed on their border, but they’re ready for an armistice today. They do want security guarantees. We know what they want. They’re at the table.
The real question in all of this, the question that people do not want to ask, is what exactly do the Russians want? What would bring the Russians to the table?
Well, we actually know what the Russians want.
According to a speech Vladimir Putin gave last June, he wants:
- No NATO membership for Ukraine, ever.
- Ukrainian recognition of Crimea and Donbas as Russian territory.
- Ukraine’s demilitarization and what he calls “Denazification.” What he really means is he wants the installation of a puppet regime in Kyiv and the lifting of all anti-Russia sanctions.
That’s just called surrender.
Now, Ukraine can’t surrender her entire government and autonomy and live at the whim of Vladimir Putin, who has literally killed tens of thousands of Ukrainians in an aggressive war and kidnapped tens of thousands of Ukrainian children into Russia.
So again, I ask, what would get Russia to the table?
Now, Steve Witkoff is supposedly a magical negotiator. President Trump has deployed him to Iran, Gaza, and now Ukraine, and seems to think that either Ukraine is the problem or that Russia can be wheedled into dropping its core demands, and that if you tweet hard enough at them, Vladimir Putin will suddenly become friendly. Witkoff and the administration are now threatening to walk away from negotiations if the two sides don’t come together.
This misses the entire point.
Russia would love for that to happen. They want the war to continue, because when Russia says they want negotiation, that’s code for they want a continuation of the war.
What they want is either to take giant chunks out of Ukraine until they eat the whole thing over time, or they want the war to continue until the West gives way.
Why? Because Ukraine is extraordinarily key to Russia’s entire vision of itself as an empire. And that empire is geared in absolutely irremediable fashion against the United States of America.
“}]]
