OPINION:
In 1988, when President Reagan was asked by a reporter during the summit in Moscow what his goal was in the Cold War, he said: “We win, they lose.”
When it comes to today’s Russia and its unprovoked war with Ukraine, President Trump’s goal, at least in practice and outcome, appears to be, “We lose, they win.”
The president has given Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy until Thanksgiving Day to accept his “peace proposal,” which reads as if it could have been written by Vladimir Putin. In fact, according to news reports, it may have been. According to the New York Post, “Secretary of State Marco Rubio told U.S. senators Saturday that the sweeping peace plan to end the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine was not America’s — but merely a ‘leaked’ Russian ‘wish list.’”
Maybe so, but it seems to align with the one-sided pressure Mr. Trump has put on Mr. Zelenskyy to settle the war since he took office. Mr. Trump said Saturday that the proposal is not his “final offer.”
If the document is from the administration, it is capitulation to most of Mr. Putin’s demands and an invitation for the dictator to continue pursuing his stated goal of retaking all the former Soviet satellite countries, which have been free and independent since the end of the Cold War.
According to a draft of the proposal shared publicly by a member of the Ukrainian opposition party, the 28-point document would require Ukraine to surrender its eastern Donbas region, as well as Crimea. The latter is something no previous administration has demanded since Mr. Putin invaded Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
It also would require Ukraine to forgo NATO membership, though it loosely promises a “security” force, presumably to prevent Mr. Putin from gobbling up more territory.
If Mr. Zelenskyy bows to U.S. pressure and accepts a deal forced upon him, we might as well get the USS Missouri out of mothballs and replicate the signing of surrender documents by the Japanese, which ended World War II.
In a statement to CBS News, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “This plan was crafted to reflect the realities of the situation, after five years of a devastating war, to find the best win-win scenario, where both parties gain more than they must give.” That sounds like an acknowledgment that the document came from us.
Among the provisions in the proposed deal is that Russia be allowed to keep much of the territory it now occupies and even take over land Ukraine currently holds, along with regions of Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk. These would be recognized by the U.S. as de facto Russian territory. Any bets on how long it would take Mr. Putin to swallow these regions whole into greater Russia?
The plan creates a neutral “buffer zone” with no Russian forces allowed. Again, place your bets on how long that will last.
Mr. Zelenskyy will be required to cap the size of his military (there is no similar requirement for Russia) and promise not to have Ukraine become a NATO member, but it can join the European Union. Does anyone expect the EU to mount a significant resistance should Mr. Putin choose to violate the agreement, especially if he invades other countries, as he has promised to do, to restore the Soviet satellite countries? It may be the only promise he has ever kept.
There is so much potential for Russia to violate the proposed agreement and so little effective response outlined if it does. These include more sanctions, which so far have not worked.
Mr. Putin has always had a goal in the war he started, but the U.S. and Europe have vacillated about ours. This proposed peace deal will only encourage vile dictators like Mr. Putin. Mr. Trump likes to say he wants to end wars. This agreement will only encourage Mr. Putin’s voracious appetite to start new wars and eventually finish the one against Ukraine.
Late Sunday, the U.S. and Ukraine reportedly agreed to change the draft of the peace plan, but the key is whether Mr. Putin will agree to anything that won’t give him everything he wants.
• 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” (Humanix Books).
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