You Want Peace? This Is How You Get Peace

According to” three officers familiar with conversations” that the Financial Times spoke with late last year, President-elect Donald Trump will continue providing military aid to Ukraine. This isn’t the only peace-through-force measure you can expect under Trump’s leadership.

According to the non-paywalled Yahoo! According to the FT report, Trump’s goal of keeping Ukraine armed won’t come about with the peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv.” American officials noted that Trump believes that providing weaponry after a ceasefire aligns with his’peace through strength ‘ philosophy.

Also, great.

Better, Trump remains opposed to NATO account for Ukraine. In the nearly three years since Putin started his terrible war, I’ve frequently reminded readers here that NATO doesn’t trade war. Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine would all dearly love NATO membership, but none will get it ( or ought to get it ) until their border issues ( all with Russia ) are resolved. That’s essentially a “never” for all three, excluded some dramatic changes on the German scene.

Probably best of all, Trump is bringing his tough-love type up to our NATO relations.

And Another Point: Presidentish Joe Biden’s Ukraine aid packages — despite the large but false price tags — had been late, crippled, and, one presumes, filled with graft and self-dealing. Under Trump, I suspect the DOGE boys — Elon and Vivek — did treat Ukraine assistance no different than any other part of the federal funds, attempting to weed out repetition, waste, and fraud. &nbsp,

When Trump took office for the first time, only three of NATO’s 32 members met the alliance’s pledge of spending 2 % of GDP on defense. 23 NATO member nations are anticipated to meet or go above that goal this year. For that, you can thank Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Trump and Putin for staging a” Special Military Operation” against Ukraine, and for threatening to leave NATO if the other members didn’t take their own defense seriously. &nbsp,

Trump hopes to persuade other nations to cooperate in a similar way to his threatened 25 % tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods. Neither he nor he want to impose the tariffs or leave NATO.

But 2 % is a feeble amount to spend on defense, even when there isn’t war raging in Eastern Europe. &nbsp,

Trump’s foreign policy team also informed European officials that he intends to pressure NATO allies to increase their defense spending to 5 % of GDP, according to Yahoo! reports. Trump will demand 5 %, likely agree to 3.5 %, and hope that slackers like Germany will eventually reach 3 %. Any improvement would be welcome in today’s climate. &nbsp,

Along the way, Trump will face criticism from some as being a warmonger and isolationist by others, but neither description is appropriate. On foreign policy, Trump is most like Ronald Reagan. &nbsp,

There is a path to peace in Europe, but it never went through appeasement. Trump would have been aware of that, and Reagan certainly does. &nbsp,

Recommended: &nbsp, Chris Cillizza Absolutely Deserves to Get’ Beat Up’ for This

Thank you once again for your VIP support. If you aren’t yet a member, enjoy tons of exclusives and take advantage&nbsp, of our 60 % Christmas savings with this&nbsp, FIGHT&nbsp, code. VIP&nbsp, is a lovely gift, too!

Source credit