The Putin Problem

The Trump administration entered office with two complementary goals concerning Russia. The first, the humanitarian goal of ending Russia’s war with Ukraine, does not seem close to being achieved. The administration proposed a ceasefire between the two countries as a first step toward terminating the conflict, but while Ukraine accepted the proposal, Russia did not. […]
Lessons from a Prior Ukraine Deal: The Brest-Litovsk Treaty of 1918

“If he’s looking to renegotiate the deal, he’s got big problems,” President Donald Trump said of his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, in an impromptu interview on Air Force One on April 1. The deal in question involves the transfer to the United States of rights to Ukraine’s rare earth elements and other natural resources, in […]
A New World Order

The war in Ukraine is leading to a seismic geopolitical shift, reshaping the global order. At its fulcrum stands Donald Trump, the champion of “America First” who is asserting Washington’s dominance on his own terms. Opposing him, Europe remains trapped in the inertia of its post-Cold War illusions, struggling to adjust to a world where […]
Why a Peace Agreement in Ukraine is Not a New Munich

The spirit of Neville Chamberlain is haunting establishment foreign policy circles. Senior Trump administration officials have begun meeting with Russian counterparts and floating possible scenarios for a negotiated peace deal. Some American media commentators – including on the right – have accused Trump of “selling out” and “betraying” Ukraine in the same way that Chamberlain […]
America Should Partner With Ukraine on Defense Tech

What happens on the battlefields of Ukraine will not stay in Ukraine. As the Spanish Civil War was a laboratory for the Second World War, so the current war in Ukraine prefigures technologies to be used in the next one. The US and its allies – Israel, Taiwan, South Korea, the Baltic States and Poland, […]
Containing Russia

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago was its first step towards reclaiming control over the lands between the Oder and the Don Rivers. Whether by means of coercion or invasion, Moscow’s successful subjugation of Central and Eastern European states would lead to a full-scale resumption of the Cold War. This can be prevented. First, […]
Will Ukraine Survive a Russo-American Deal?

From the first day of his return to the White House, Donald Trump has made a point of demonstrating that he intends to carry out his campaign promises. In addition to the flurry of executive orders that he began to issue within hours of his inauguration, Trump has also made waves internationally. By threatening to […]
The Upside Potential of Postwar Ukraine

Post-war Ukraine will offer enormous commercial opportunities and powerful people-to-people connections. American businesses and research institutions will benefit from a rich pool of knowledge and skilled workers. This upside potential awaits a Trump administration seeking a conclusion to the war now entering its third year. Ukraine’s policymakers will face an immediate postwar economic challenge: finding […]
How Donald Trump Can Win the Nobel Peace Prize

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump said that he would end the war between Ukraine and Russia in 24 hours. While he cannot achieve that goal so rapidly, it is conceivable that the second Trump administration could stop the fighting in Ukraine, in which case the president-elect would be worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. […]
Ukraine in a Second Trump Administration: The Case for Optimism

Since the US presidential election, friends and supporters have asked us at Razom for Ukraine how we feel about the future of Ukraine. Razom for Ukraine is an American aid and advocacy organization that has delivered more than $100 million in humanitarian assistance since 2022. Razom employs dozens of staff in Ukraine currently on the […]