Putin must be defeated

OPINION:

In his 1951 farewell address to Congress and the American public (known as the “old soldiers never die, they just fade away” speech), Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur said something the Trump administration should recall as it seeks to end the war between Russia and Ukraine: “Once war is forced upon us, there is no other alternative than to apply every available means to bring it to a swift end. War’s very object is victory, not prolonged indecision. In war, there is no substitute for victory.”

Although MacArthur was referring to U.S. wars, his philosophy could be applied to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth appeared to let the cat out of the bag when he wrongly stated even before peace negotiations began that Ukraine should not expect to regain territory lost to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of the sovereign nation. Mr. Putin has said he won’t give an inch of Ukrainian land he has seized. European leaders have expressed alarm that they have not been consulted or included in negotiations, even while President Trump wants them to “do more” when it comes to assisting Ukraine while helping end the war.

Has everyone forgotten what Neville Chamberlain told Adolf Hitler at their 1938 meeting in Munich? Chamberlain delighted the cunning Hitler, saying the Fuhrer could keep the Sudetenland (now the Czech Republic) he had invaded, thinking that would satisfy his ravenous territorial yearnings and bring “peace for our time.” World War II came largely because Hitler regarded the West as weak, preferring an illusory “peace” rather than his defeat.

When negotiating, especially with an evil adversary — Nazi Germany then and Mr. Putin now — the worst strategy is to make concessions before talks formally begin. To exclude Ukraine, the victim of the invasion, at least in initial talks, is like allowing an opponent in poker to have an extra ace.

Mr. Trump promised to end the war on his first day in office, which seemed presumptuous and impossible. It’s approaching his 30th day in office, and the fighting continues.

Being a successful negotiator in business is one thing, as Mr. Trump thinks he has been. Doesn’t he immodestly say that about himself? On the world stage, it is quite different and more dangerous because lives are in danger, not just in Ukraine but also in other countries should Mr. Putin diagnose the West as lacking resolve and effectively giving him, as he might see it, a green light to invade other sovereign states in pursuit of his stated goal of “reclaiming” Russian territory lost in the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Wall Street Journal columnist William McGurn is right when he asks, “Will Ukraine be Trump’s Vietnam? Consider the 1973 Paris Peace Accords. (National Security Adviser Henry) Kissinger won a Nobel Prize, but Saigon fell.”

If victory is not the goal, what else is there? MacArthur characterized anything short of victory as “prolonged indecision.” That lane invites the spread of evil and harm to other nations if Ukraine’s “allies” refuse to stand in the gap or don’t contribute enough to Kyiv’s protection.

If the Trump administration is not cautioned by what happened in 1938, when an evil monster was allowed to have his way with one state before invading others and launching the Holocaust, perhaps it needs another reminder of what occurred in 1973. Accommodating evil never ends well.

• Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book, “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (HumanixBooks).