No Crimea, No NATO: What Conservative Realism Should Demand

President Trump is hosting Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House—alongside a scrum of European leaders—just three days after sitting down with Vladimir Putin in Alaska. And he’s framing the deal in blunt-Trump terms: Ukraine won’t be getting back Crimea, and NATO membership is off the table. Zelenskyy, he says, “can end the war almost…

Putin’s Hypocrisy, Trump’s Diplomacy, and Ukraine’s Survival

In the complex and often contradictory world of international politics, few scenarios highlight hypocrisy more starkly than Russia's stance on the ongoing conflict with Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin's insistence that peace negotiations cannot proceed while Ukraine controls any part of Russia's Kursk region, juxtaposed with Russia's occupation of Ukrainian territory, epitomizes a glaring double standard.…

Did NATO Break a Promise? Debunking a Popular Excuse for Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Lately, a strange trend has emerged among certain so-called “conservatives” who are bending over backward to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Now, being skeptical of U.S. foreign policy is fair—we’ve certainly had our share of misadventures—but that doesn’t mean we should start parroting Kremlin propaganda like useful idiots. The three main arguments these pseudo-conservatives push…