Trump’s Ukraine Strategy: Lessons from the Middle East

As you note in your editorial “

Trump’s Hostage Triumph in Jerusalem” (Oct. 14), the past week has been an outstanding if tragically belated success in the Middle East. President Trump might be a bully, but in the region where might makes right, he was the bully we needed. For once, I will say: Don’t drop the strongman shtick. Apply the same lesson of force to the bigger war raging: Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

So far Mr. Trump’s strategy—berating Ukraine while flattering Russia—has had the opposite effect. Vladimir Putin has been convinced that he can wait until his vicious nightly attacks on civilians break the country’s will. This was Hamas’s calculus during the Biden administration—holding out until Israel caved, or the international community forced it to. Mr. Trump busted that status quo and can here too. Much like Hamas, Mr. Putin needs the war to cling to power. The only way it ends is with Ukrainian victory and Russian defeat.