Pursuing Peace?

Trump didn’t lose but Putin won. That was precisely the message of their much publicised Alaska meeting held on August 8. Trump is desperate to have Nobel peace prize this year but he is yet to cross a number of hurdles. For one thing leaders of military-industrial complexes are being chosen for peace prize for reasons best known to the prize committee. America is the source of multiple wars around the world and yet peace award is likely to go to America. After meeting with Putin, Trump is saying Zelensky can stop the Russia-Ukraine war if he so wishes but Ukraine is fighting this war with continuous material and dollar support from America and its NATO allies. Zelensky is living on borrowed time because EU and America are allowing him to live that way. Trump is not shedding tears for the Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza but he spends sleepless nights for Ukrainians who are being killed in war. True, the war has killed or wounded more than a million people from both sides, including thousands of mostly Ukrainian civilians.

The Alaska summit ended earlier than planned but it was definitely a public relations success for Putin who was received as an equal by Trump after years of international isolation.

Trump is personally undertaking a flurry of diplomatic moves to end Russia-Ukraine war. Close on the heels of Alaska summit came the White House meeting on August 11. And Trump welcomed Zelensky as well as the leaders of Britain, Finland, France, Italy, Germany, NATO and the European Commission in Washington for talks. In truth the short meeting in Alaska accomplished a great deal. Trump dropped his insistence on a cease-fire–a Russian position–as the basis for negotiation between Russia and Ukraine. And it panicked EU leaders who think without Ukrainian security European security will be in jeopardy.

The bone of contention, however, is land swap as part of a lasting peace deal. Moscow wants complete integration of Russian-speaking Donbas into Russian Federation. Right now Russian troops don’t control some 3,500 square miles area of Donestk, a highly reinforced region of strategic importance to Ukraine’s capacity to defend itself from any future Russian attacks.

The war has killed or wounded more than a million people from both sides, including thousands of mostly Ukrainian civilians. As Kyiv and its allies worried that Trump could force an agreement more favourable to Moscow they raised the concerns of security more loudly than ever before and Trump somewhat reluctantly vowed to guarantee Ukrainian security. Trump said that US would give Ukraine very good protection and very good security but he didn’t provide specifics. In interaction with the media he, however, said that he would sell weapons to NATO and NATO in turn would send them to Ukraine. Moscow’s state television immediately reacted to this dubious design of America and found in it a ploy to betray the process of peace-making.

The hard reality is that Trump and Putin cannot bring peace overnight. Despite all the tall talks of peace US may not be able to create scenario to end war in Ukraine anytime soon. European Union has vested interest in continuing the war. Nobody is serious about the agony of Ukrainians. While America is restless to exploit Ukrainian natural resources, European countries find an opportunity to boost their economy in reconstruction business in post-war Ukraine. There are reportedly 8000 war veterans from Europe who are fighting along with Ukrainian soldiers.

At the end of the day, the talks in Washington as well as in Alaska appeared to have offered a chance for all sides to air their grievances and state their positions. But no side specified what concessions, if any, they would be willing to make–at least publicly. In other words war will continue amidst peace diplomacy.

20-08-2025

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Frontier
Vol 58, No. 11, Sep 7 - 13, 2025