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…

Alaska, Peacemaking, and the Peril of “Quick Fix” Diplomacy

If you’re looking for tidy endings, geopolitics is the wrong genre. President Trump and Vladimir Putin sat down in Anchorage, and—surprise—no white-smoke peace deal drifted over the Chugach. Still, the two leaders talked for hours about Ukraine, pledged to keep talking, and signaled that President Zelenskyy will now be heavily engaged. Reports suggest he’s heading…

Europe Must Step Up: The Path to a Real Ukraine Peace Deal

For years, Europe has relied on the United States as the world's policeman, assuming we would foot the bill and send our troops while they focused on social programs, green energy initiatives, and bureaucratic red tape. That model is unsustainable and, frankly, unfair to American taxpayers. Now, with the war in Ukraine dragging on and…

Trump, Putin, and Ukraine: A Hard Line Is the Only Line

President Trump’s recent diplomatic outreach to both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky has ignited fierce debate. On one hand, peace is always preferable to war, and bringing the Russia-Ukraine conflict to an end is a worthy goal. On the other hand, peace must not come at the cost of rewarding Putin for his unprovoked aggression.…