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Putin’s poodle

One silver lining: new unity and resolve on the part of democratic Europe

The aborted Alaska summit on Russia’s war on Ukraine displayed the opposite of the kind of all-powerful leader that Donald Trump tries to project. Instead, Vladimir Putin dominated the meetings, both in the sense of theater and substance.

After making a variety of threats to get Putin to agree to a cease-fire pending final peace negotiations, Trump meekly agreed to Putin’s framing of how events had to play out. The Friday summit, itself a victory for Putin, ended early. Trump let Putin speak first and he spoke twice as long as Trump did. The planned press session never materialized; the working lunch was canceled; and on Saturday Trump put out an obsequious statement on Truth Social that read as if it was dictated by Putin (and effectively it was.)

The statement read in part:

“The meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia went very well, as did a late night phone call with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, and various European Leaders, including the highly respected Secretary General of NATO. It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.”

This is exactly what Zelensky was trying to avoid, because it allows Russia’s attacks to continue and lays the groundwork for an all-or-nothing peace deal on Russia’s terms, which would involve extensive concessions of Ukrainian territory as well as guarantees that Ukraine would never join NATO. This would leave Ukraine open to more Russian demands in the future, in a manner eerily reminiscent of Trump’s deals with universities, which only lead to more demands.

Trump plainly admires Putin and envies his total power: over oligarchs, lesser government officials, and policy decisions alike. Russia’s fake democracy is a model for Trump’s vision of U.S. democracy. But as dictators go, Putin runs rings around Trump. In this case, Putin not only bested Trump; he humiliated him, on U.S. soil, in a format created for Trump’s greater glory.

Despite Trump’s claim that “it was determined” after consultations with European and NATO leaders that a final peace agreement and not a cease-fire was the way to proceed, this in fact was exactly the opposite of what European leaders urged Trump to pursue. Now Trump will try to coerce Zelensky into going along.

The only good thing about this debacle is that it reinforces European unity and brings Europe and Zelensky closer together. To the extent that Ukraine has any leverage to resist, Zelensky now depends on Europe, not the U.S.

After Trump briefed them on his version of what occurred at the summit, all of Europe’s key leaders—German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen—quickly composed and issued a joint statement:

“It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory. International borders must not be changed by force. Our support to Ukraine will continue. We are determined to do more to keep Ukraine strong in order to achieve an end to the fighting and a just and lasting peace,” the statement said. “As long as the killing in Ukraine continues, we stand ready to uphold the pressure on Russia. We will continue to strengthen sanctions and wider economic measures to put pressure on Russia’s war economy until there is a just and lasting peace.”

The statement added that Ukraine must have “ironclad” security guarantees to defend its territorial integrity. This was the opposite of what Trump claimed Europe supported.

When Zelensky meets with Trump at the White House later today, he will be joined by Merz, Macron, Starmer, Meloni, and von der Leyen, as well as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. At that point, Trump will not be able to paper over which side he is on.

Ever since the creation of the European Union, the special challenge for the Europeans has been disunity. With 27 member nations and a weak executive, it was almost impossible for Europe to speak with one voice. As a skeptical Henry Kissinger once said, “Who do I call?” This division has been the case both on defense and on economic policy. The weak response last month of von der Leyen to Trump’s trade war proved Kissinger’s point.

Trump, by siding with Putin against a European Union that has several member nations on revanchist Russia’s doorstep, including Poland and the Baltics, is forcing greater unity on the Europeans. Trump began this process in his first term by demanding that Europe spend more on defense. Now that greater military spending will be used to defy Trump.

NATO, created in 1949 under U.S. leadership, held up for three quarters of a century, a long time as military alliances go. As Trump unilaterally betrays the Atlantic Alliance, Europe and Ukraine have a common interest in containing Putin’s expansionism, containment also being a concept devised by the U.S. as the core of its Russia strategy during the long Cold War.

Last week, in lopsided trade negotiations, Trump sided with America’s adversaries (China got special favors) against America’s allies (who got blunderbuss tariffs). Now we’re seeing it again with Ukraine. Just as Europe needed the U.S. to defend it against Russian expansionism in the Soviet era, we need a resolute Europe now. We may even get it.

~ ROBERT KUTTNER

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