Ukraine-Russia: Will Donald Trump become "Geopolitical Herostratus"?

We can talk a lot about tectonic changes in contemporary world politics, which have the potential to fundamentally alter the current world order. We can also discuss the immorality of those world leaders who calmly watch as Russia commits genocide against the Ukrainian people. Today, we are witnessing one of the worst precedents of capitulation to evil, which will go down in history as a result of naivety, cowardice, and moral decay of those making decisions in the United States and Europe.

Metaphorically speaking, many Western countries are now governed by people with broken moral backbones—short-sighted and uneducated individuals who are ready to coexist with evil, pretending they can somehow reform it or turn it into good. But unaddressed evil inevitably breeds more evil, and the consequences of capitulation to it will surely boomerang back to those who have pretended for years that it doesn’t concern them.

U.S. President Donald Trump is vying for the dishonorable title of the worst president in the nearly 250-year history of the United States. Everything seems to suggest that Trump is not interested in peace but more inclined to help Putin continue his terrorist war in Ukraine. In fact, Trump has few options for making a final decision on Ukraine:

- Completely halt aid to Ukraine, forcing it to make painful concessions to the Russian Federation.

- Continue to aid Ukraine on a residual basis, turning this confrontation into a "forever war" where the victor will be the one able to mobilize more resources and forces for its continuation.

- Provide Ukraine with all necessary military assistance, forcing Russia to withdraw from all occupied Ukrainian territories.

Since the Russian Federation is not planning to end its war in Ukraine, the most realistic of these scenarios would be the third option. Of course, Putin will constantly send signals that if the West provides Ukraine with more destructive weapons, it risks turning the Russian invasion into World War III. And after the first missile hits the center of Moscow, tactical nuclear weapons will be used against Ukraine.

Trump has sent individuals with little understanding of basic diplomacy to negotiate with the Muscovites. Neither Secretary of State Marco Rubio nor Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff was prepared for such a serious mission at a time when the fate of Western civilization is at stake. Witkoff, in particular, echoes Kremlin narratives, thus presenting a weak and defeatist position for Washington. This is why the U.S. continues to cede ground to Russia, which has no motive to cease fire, feeling no pressure from America.

 If Trump gives Ukraine to Putin, he will open Pandora’s box and demonstrate to the world that current international borders are temporary, and any major country can invade another, forcibly annex its lands, and declare them its own.

While Ukraine’s victory over the Moscow hordes would signal the end of the empire era, allowing Russia to brutally seize an independent state through inaction would mark the defeat of the entire Western world and push Putin toward a new invasion of Europe. Europe, unlike Ukraine, is currently ill-prepared to repel the aggression of Putin’s terrorist army. Therefore, the choice now lies with the Europeans, and it is crucial whether they will make it in time.

Donald Trump is far from the image of a strong man that his politically narrow-minded supporters envision. In reality, he is weak, selfish, and impatient. His constant demonstration of impatience where political wisdom and restraint are needed has become a blessing for all of America’s global adversaries. 

The 47th president is a proponent of simple and quick solutions, without thinking about their long-term consequences. He has no strategy and no understanding of what a long geopolitical game entails. His childish ego could cost humanity dearly, and his supporters continue to blindly believe in his brilliance, which only exacerbates the situation.

The U.S. president mistakenly believes that he can intimidate, blackmail, and economically coerce every nation into submission, unaware that national interests—of both large and small nations—are far more important than his inflated ambitions and ego.

It must be said directly that Ukrainians disagree when Washington says, “This is not our war.” This war has brought great benefit to Americans. By not yielding to Putin’s swift conquest of our country, as was initially expected, the Ukrainian people have done an invaluable service to the rest of the free world. 

While holding off the Moscow hordes, Ukrainians have sacrificed their lives to prevent the world’s number one terrorist—Putin—from spreading the threat of bloody invasion to other European states. The first domino of democracy refused to fall, yet the current Western leaders still seem to see little value in this. Although the domino effect theory is more relevant than ever now.

Let’s not forget that by refusing to oppose Putin, the U.S. is destroying the foundations of universal morality, which have been nurtured in Europe for centuries. Supporting the twisted Russian sociopath ruler only shows that America’s leadership is now filled with appeasers, a humbling image the United States is projecting to the world. 

Furthermore, the U.S. hasn’t just provided aid to Ukraine; they’ve funded military manufacturers, one of the few remaining thriving segments of American production that hasn’t been outsourced to China. The military equipment sent to Ukraine is a byproduct of this process; otherwise, it would have just accumulated in the U.S. until it became obsolete and was discarded.

Trumpism is quickly destroying America. The superpower could very quickly lose its revered status. Trump cannot isolate America from the rest of the world; he can only turn its former, deserved greatness into insignificance. The question is whether healthy political forces in the U.S.—and not just political—will step in to halt the 47th president’s advance down this path.

Americans who care about the future of their country should politically oppose Trump and his amateurish regime. The price of abandoning Ukraine will ricochet around the world, and the resonance will be stronger than the United States can bear. A great and powerful state, subordinated to an ambitious and uneducated dictator, has no future if this continues.

Trump threatens the safety of anyone who wants to live in a world governed by the rule of law. Russia is not interested in ending the war. The Russian Federation is interested in ending Western support for Ukraine because, although Moscow is receiving military supplies from North Korea and drones from Iran, it cannot defeat Ukraine—especially now, when Ukrainians have become the leading nation in conducting a new type of defensive war based on cheap drones and skilled drone operators. 

If Trump wanted to do something good and useful for the world, he would announce that he wants Congress to approve long-term funding and supply for Ukraine’s civil and military needs. He would also ensure that American soldiers receive necessary new skills from Ukrainian military experts, as we have entered the era of drones.

We cannot allow Trumpism to become the norm for the United States, nor can we accept Putin—who has been terrorizing Ukraine with bloodshed for the past four years—as the norm for the global community. The way to end the war in Ukraine is simple. Dictator Putin pulls his army out, pays reparations, and stays as far away from the borders of Western democracies as possible.

And until America, led by Trump, guarantees Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, any "peace" plan he proposes will not be feasible. The way to end the war in Ukraine is to return the Russians to Russia, pushing them back to the borders of early 2014.

Abandoning support for Ukraine and allowing Putin to do whatever he wants would be a grave strategic mistake. Russia may not be winning on the battlefield, but concessions to the Russian dictator will sadly convince him that the chances of destroying Ukraine’s statehood are still within reach.

The disappearance of the Ukrainian state from the world map would be equivalent to Trump becoming a “geopolitical Herostratus.” When will the United States finally realize this? If this doesn’t seem like a tragedy to him, the destruction of the Ukrainian state by Russian barbarians will mark the beginning of the end of the modern international order.

Because the global consequences of such voluntary appeasement with the forces of evil will not pass by unnoticed. While Trump plays into Putin’s hands, peace will be impossible. But if he truly supports the Ukrainians, achieving peace in Ukraine will become a reality.

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About the author. Viktor Kaspruk, journalist

The editorial staff does not always share the opinions expressed by the blog authors.