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Commentary
The Wall Street Journal

Trump’s Stunning Foreign Policy

walter_russell_mead
walter_russell_mead
Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship
trump oval office
Caption
President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on August 18, 2025. (Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images)

The Alaska summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump on Friday, followed by President Trump’s meeting Monday with Volodymyr Zelensky, stunned the world. Commentators railed against what they saw as Mr. Trump’s pusillanimous concessions to Mr. Putin in Alaska. They were then shocked by the U.S. president’s warm welcome to Mr. Zelensky at the White House, and shocked again by the Euro-American lovefest that followed the bilateral summit.

That shouldn’t surprise us. The relationship between Russia and the U.S., like the one between the U.S. and Israel, is important, emotionally charged and widely misunderstood.

 

Read the full article at The Wall Street Journal.