In an August 25th op-ed in the Washington Examiner, John Bolton charged that Trump’s Ukraine policy is “collapsing in confusion, haste and the absence of any discernible meeting of the minds among Ukraine, Russian, several European countries and America.” The negotiations, he warns, “may be in their last throes, along with his Nobel Peace Prize campaign.” Trump’s attempts to fast track a peace deal was “inevitably doomed.”
Bolton said that Trump has moved at an unprecedentedly fast pace, i.e., setting up the Alaska meeting over a two-week span, which is unheard of. Trump doesn’t understand that while Ukraine is fighting for its freedom and independence, Russia wants to rebuild the old Russian Empire, so there’s no middle ground here, as long as Russia maintains its “imperialist goals.” Trump’s attempt to bring an “extraordinarily complex conflict” to resolution over two weeks is “one of several significant mistakes.” Major substantive issues weren’t discussed. Then, after the meeting with Putin, he made an about-face, failed to impose sanctions, and backed off from the demand for an immediate ceasefire.
Bolton insists that Trump’s diplomacy only deals in “generalities,” but none of the careful, painstaking, behind-the-scenes preparatory work that would normally take place to reach agreements isn’t happening. Generalities can paper over “vast differences.” How does he know? He complains that in doing this faced-pace diplomacy, other allies such as India have been left in the lurch. Russia has been untouched by sanctions, same with China. But India is suffering and the longer this goes on, the worse the New Delhi-Washington relationship will become.
He warns that Trump’s actions over the past two weeks “may have left us further from peace and a just settlement for Ukraine than before.
