Will realism and restraint finally get a chance in US foreign policy?
On April 18, 2022, former President Donald Trump urged Russia and Ukraine to come to a peace settlement in the midst of Russia’s controversial military action in Ukraine, which was launched on February 24, 2022.
“It doesn’t make sense that Russia and Ukraine aren’t sitting down and working out some kind of an agreement,” Trump declared per a report by The Hill.
“If they don’t do it soon, there will be nothing left but death, destruction, and carnage,” he continued. “This is a war that never should have happened, but it did. The solution can never be as good as it would have been before the shooting started, but there is a solution, and it should be figured out now—not later—when everyone will be DEAD!” Trump declared.
Instead of echoing the Deep State plan of fighting Russia to the last Ukrainian and sanctioning Russia to the last European with 10 euros in their pocket, Trump is calling for the liberty conservative solution of ending this conflict through a diplomatic settlement. If the US is to play a role here, it should be one as a mediator that brings peace to this conflict zone.
A proxy war with a nuclear-armed power is asking for a cataclysmic military conflict. One can recognize that Russia’s invasion was unjustified while also understanding that it has valid security concerns with regards to NATO expansion and unconventional Western encroachments in its historical backyard.
The US should learn from this tragic episode of foreign affairs about the limits of its hard and soft power projection. In an era of heightened geopolitical competition, as peer and near-peer competitors pop up everywhere, countries will not respond kindly to the US’s encroachments in their respective backyards.
It cannot be stressed enough on how the US must retrench and focus more on its border and the Western Hemisphere. American cannot afford to get into a great power conflict with rival powers.
Despite his flaws, Trump is only the mainstream political figure who has realist political instincts and is willing to negotiate a deal with countries in times of crisis. The ideal scenario would be for Trump to be re-elected in 2024 alongside a liberty conservative Congress to push him in a pro-restraint direction.
