Opinion | What if an America under Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis turns its back on the Ukraine war?
- With both expected Republican presidential candidates opposing continued US support for Ukraine, Putin now has hope that the Western alliance will shatter
- But if America allows Putin to destroy Ukraine and not pay the price, these Russian tactics will spread and become the new normal
While in office, US secretary of state Madeleine Albright referred to America as an “indispensable nation”, a statement that is still true. Last century, America ensured that Adolf Hitler’s totalitarian barbarism did not turn Europe into a dark place. This century, the United States – and Nato – has been the last line of defence against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s imperialist fantasies, and the primary reason a sovereign Ukraine still exists.
The coordinated efforts by the West have forced Putin to reconsider his strategy. The best he can hope for is a stalemate and an eventual erosion of the new-found Western cohesion.
DeSantis, in response to a questionnaire from America’s leading Putin admirer Tucker Carlson, called Russia’s war a “territorial dispute” that did not involve America’s “vital national interests” – a statement more fitting from Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov than the governor of Florida.
