Trump May Try To Appease Putin When They Meet In Alaska

When Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met in Helsinki during Trump's first term, Putin played Trump like a violin. It was embarrassing. The hope is that Trump has learned something since then.

During his campaign, Trump told his supporters that he would end the war in Ukraine on his first day in office. He seemed to think that Putin was his friend, and would happily stop the war when asked. That hasn't happened. Despite all of Trump's efforts, Putin has refused to stop the war - and has actually increased his drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian citizens.

Recently, Trump has shown some disappointment with Putin's intransigence. He has threatened new sanctions on Russia. But he has not followed through on that. and now he seems to be back to believing Putin.

He has said that he believes Putin wants peace. And he has said that peace will require some trading of land. That means he wants to get peace at the expense of giving some eastern Ukrainian provinces to Russia.

This is foolish. Putin doesn't want peace. He wants Ukraine to again be a part of Russia. In fact, he wants to re-establish the old Soviet Union.

The whole thing is reminiscent of the Munich Agreement - when Chamberlain thought he had appeased Hitler by giving him some territory. All it did was convince Hitler he could do what he wanted and resulted in World War II.

Now Trump has agreed to meet Putin in Alaska to discuss a ceasefire.

Putin says he would agree to a ceasefire if given part of Ukraine. That would be a mistake. That ceasefire would just give Putin time to resupply and build up his troops to then finish what he started. Agreeing to Putin's demands would not bring peace - it would just whet Putin's appetite for more war and more invasions (of Ukraine and other countries).

You can't appease a land-hungry dictator by giving in to them. The only way to stop them is by building an impenetrable wall between them and what they want. Peace doesn't come through weakness - it comes through strength. 

I hope I'm wrong, but I think there's a very good chance that Trump will give Putin what he wants - in the mistaken belief it will bring peace. And then pressure Zelensky into accepting it by cutting off American aid and weapons.

History has taught that would be a serious mistake. But while Trump tries to rewrite history, he does not learn from it. He is likely to repeat it, and that will make the world a much more dangerous place as Putin (and probably China) realize they can get what they want.