From Munich to Mar-a-Lago: Is Trump Appeasing Putin in Ukraine?
Lots of headlines today about "peace" negotiations in Ukraine. But does Putin really want to end the war — and is Trump able and willing to broker a real peace? According to the longtime Russia watcher Jim Goldgeier, Putin isn't interested in ending the war on anything other than complete Russian control over Ukraine. Putin, Goldgeier bleakly concludes, "just doesn't believe Ukraine should be an independent country." So if this is true, what should Trump do? Is sitting down with Putin a classic case study in appeasing tyranny? Is the real "civilizational erasure" happening in Washington rather than Brussels? And will historians one day memorialize this shabby chapter in American foreign policy as "From Munich to Mar-a-Lago"?
Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Sy Montgomery: How Hawks Teach Us a Different Way to Love
Rebecca Schiller: How to Write a Literary Memoir About Neurodivergency
Edward Sullivan: How Authentic Conversation Can Unlock Our Creativity, Our Purpose, and Our Happiness
Lis Wiehl: Why Robert Hanssen Was America's Most Damaging Spy
Toni Bentley on George Balanchine, the Man Who Loved Women
David Kirkpatrick: From Tragedy to Farce: On the Changing Story of Facebook
Joel Simon: How the Infodemic Is Making the World Sicker and Less Free
Richard Overy: Has the Second World War Ended Yet?
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger: Why Free Access Is the Key to Fixing Big Tech Monopolies
John Thornhill: What Do Startup Entrepreneurs and Authors Have in Common?
Mickey Huff: Can We Trust Anything We Read in the Media These Days?
C. Fred Bergsten: Why Trump and Biden Are Dangerously Wrong About China
Introducing Storybound