According to Bolton, Trump is only interested in short-term results, not long-term consequences.
The US administration’s haste and inconsistency in trying to end the war in Ukraine demonstrates Trump’s attempt to conclude a peace agreement at any cost and with any delayed consequences. The main thing is the opportunity to declare oneself a peacemaker here and now. John Bolton, a former adviser to the US President on national security issues during Trump’s first term, writes about this in an opinion article for The Telegraph.
Who disrupted the supply of Tomahawks to Ukraine
Table of Contents
Commenting on Trump’s “peacekeeping,” Bolton throws the first stone at the current special envoy of the US President, Steve Witkoff. The recent leak to the press of his conversation with the Russians exposes, in Bolton’s opinion, a “conspiracy” against Ukraine.
Bolton notes that neither the Kremlin nor the White House denies the authenticity of the transcript of Witkoff’s conversation with Putin’s assistant Yuri Ushakov. And that transcript indicates that it was Witkoff who instigated the phone call between Putin and Trump in mid-October that derailed a nearly agreed-upon decision to begin supplying Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv, Bolton says.
“This is not a normal ‘fair brokerage’. This is simply a pro-Russian action,” says a former Trump adviser.
Chaos and inconsistency
According to Bolton, the story of Tomahawks and then Witkoff’s “peace plan” demonstrates how “quintessentially Trumpian” US foreign policy is currently.
“No coherent national security strategy, from an American or Ukrainian perspective; negotiations are conducted chaotically and asymmetrically, without regard to the facts on the ground; key issues remain unclear or unresolved; self-destructive deadlines and, like used car salesmen, endless happy talk about an inevitable deal,” Bolton describes.
Bolton calls further negotiations with the Ukrainians in Geneva with the participation of State Department head Marco Rubio “at best, only a partially successful” attempt to restore the balance.
Chasing a quick deal
Trump’s former adviser is convinced that the current US president is not interested in how fair and even how durable the peace agreement between Ukraine and the Russian Federation will be. Trump is only interested in the fact of his conclusion: the sooner the better.
This is precisely how Bolton explains the White House’s attempts to blackmail Zelensky with a “take it or leave it” proposal.
“Trump has no significant political red lines. His real goal is the Nobel Peace Prize. Perhaps he worries that Nobel committee rules require him to be nominated [на премию] for [мирное] the agreement for Ukraine is until January 31, hence the rush,” Bolton said.
Trump’s former adviser notes that the current occupant of the White House cares only about the current moment, and not about the distant future. That is, Trump is not interested in what will happen to Ukraine in three years, when he himself will no longer be President of the United States.
US Politics: Latest News
As UNIAN wrote, in October, during a visit to Washington, Vladimir Zelensky hoped to receive long-range Tomahawk missiles from the United States to attack Russian oil refineries in order to increase pressure on Moscow. However, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said that such a “handful of missiles” would change little, and suggested that Ukraine, in return, ask Donald Trump for a ten-year tariff exemption to stimulate the economy.
We also said that Trump fatally miscalculated how he should negotiate with Putin. While the US president is looking for some kind of commercial deal, the Russian dictator is looking for geopolitical gain.