Appeasement at Munich
snyder.substack.com
snyder.substack.com
Also, I don't understand what mandate or power the US have to negotiate with Russia? They are currently the main providers of weapons to Ukraine but that's about it? And they aren't even the only providers.
Europe could absolutely help Ukraine on its own and ignore whatever the US tells it to do, if it had the political will to do so. It doesn't look good right now but it could still happen.
Trump is purely transactional and in the simplest possible way. There's no long game, no stealth, no soft power, no maneuvering, no geopolitical unity, no building. If there isn't a clear immediate profit from money changing hands or a contract being signed straight away then it's worthless. It's a simple business strategy but applied to vastly more complicated politics and society, not nationally and globally.
So did the US.
> Trump is purely transactional and in the simplest possible way
Realpolitik.
18 years, More than $2Trillion, For nothing.
What sort of transaction were you hoping for? Another 18 years commitment?
The best thing would have been to never go there in Force. Bomb the terrorists to pieces if you must, but don’t force yourself upon others, especially if those others have a 2000 year history of killing those who tried this.
The next best thing, after going there in Force would have been a full re-build of their government + societe into something that would have worked for the benefit of the locals. But that’s a multi-generational project, 40 years plus.
Your transactional analogy extends to DOGE running the federal government like the worst private equity firm who just bought your company.
Unfortunately, your type of thinking led to this. US involvement forced Israel to withdraw unilaterally from Gaza in 2005 and take a hands off stance as Hamas kept building up its base and digging tunnels. Had Israel stopped it back then we wouldn't have had Oct 7th and Palestinians might have taken the Israeli offer for statehood. People often confuse appeasement and peace, they are opposites.
Israel is actually mostly secular. The deep settlements are very religious in contrast to the rest. Hamas is just a religious suicide cult.
Ah yes, history started in 2005. Let's talk post-2005 then. This was when Netanyahu, an elected leader of Israel, openly bragged about aiding and building up Hamas, a terrorist organization, in order to weaken the PLO's power. That is of course, until the chickens came home to roost. It would take a certain amount of delusion to claim that this was not the issue, but unoccupying a land unlawfully occupied was the problem.
How? Trump and his loyal reps sabotaged any attempt for serious help. Biden had to resort to tricks and pushing the boundaries to offer the best he had in that situation.
> Putin denied the legitimacy of the Ukrainian state. Although its leaders were democratically elected, he claimed that they had no right to rule. Because its people spoke various languages, he claimed that there was no such thing as a body of Ukrainian citizens. Hitler argued that Ukraine itself was artificial, the result of a historical turning point that never should have happened, the collapse of the Soviet Union. He claimed that the existence of national minority gave him the right to intervene in Ukraine politics. At some point in 2021, he ordered his army to make preparations for a quick strike on Ukraine. He also activated his agents inside the country
Hitler was better informed of his own army capabilities
That should tell you everything you need to know about the Russian mindset.
A more important issue is that Russia is one of the countries that like to violate the treaties and contracts they have signed.
Thus it isn't "appeasement". Churchill and Hitler were of totally opposing ideology. Trump-Putin looks to me more like dividing "spheres of influence" instead of appeasement. Kind of real estate parcel borders survey.