Ted Snider

When the United States, the UK, Poland and their NATO partners pushed Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky off the path of diplomacy and onto the road of war against a much more powerful country, Zelensky kept public morale high with tales of unlimited and unending Western weapons, recovery of the Donbas and Crimea, and eventual NATO … Continue reading “At the End of the War, Zelensky Is Confronted With Reality”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the U.S. has led an international campaign to shun and isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin. Former U.S. president Joe Biden did not talk to Putin once after the war began. That policy of isolation is now over. On February 12, U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that he had … Continue reading “The Isolation Is Over: Trump Calls Putin”

On January 6, Indonesia formally entered BRICS as a full member. It was an important geopolitical shift that went largely unreported and little discussed in the mainstream media. BRICS is an international organization whose primary purpose is to balance U.S. hegemony in a new multipolar world. Its roots go back to 1996 and the emergence … Continue reading “Indonesia Joining BRICS Is a Huge Deal That Went Unnoticed”

At the end of January, reports appeared that a leaked document outlining U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan for the war in Ukraine had been passed to Ukraine and was being actively discussed by European and Ukrainian diplomats and officials. The document was not verified at the time, and its existence was denied by the … Continue reading “Is Trump’s Ukraine Peace Plan Underway?”

Once upon a time, there was something called international law. It was a set of codified laws that had the United Nations as its firm foundation and that applied universally and impartially to all nations. Then, at some point, international law was replaced by the rules-based order. Based not on impartiality with the UN as … Continue reading “Bet You Never Thought You’d Miss the Rules-Based Order”

A leaked document has given us a first glimpse at Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian online newspaper Strana, U.S. officials handed the plan to European diplomats who then passed it on to Ukraine. The existence of the plan has not been verified, and Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the … Continue reading “Did We Just See Trump’s Ukraine Peace Plan?”

There may be a battle looming, not just between the Trump administration and Ukraine over the conscription of men between the ages of 18 and 25, but also within the Trump administration. The call for Ukraine to cast a wider conscription net predates the Trump administration. Facing imminent loss on the battlefield, after NATO had … Continue reading “Trump & Ukraine: The Coming Battle Over Conscription”

Russia’s now unstoppable advance across eastern Ukraine ushers in the inevitability that Ukraine has lost, and the war will end. The election of Donald Trump ushers in the inevitability that the war will end with a negotiated settlement. Two things are now clear about that settlement: Ukraine will not be in NATO, and Russia will … Continue reading “Everyone Wants US Forces in Ukraine Except the US”

By abstaining from diplomacy and relying so heavily on isolating countries and the broad stroke of sanctions, the U.S. runs the risk of creating a community of isolated and sanctioned countries. A community of sanctioned countries negates the effect of sanctions. And a community of isolated countries creates the very multipolar world the U.S. is … Continue reading “Iran and Russia’s Friendship Just Got a Lot Deeper”

Before the first day of Donald Trump’s term in office, he already had more diplomatic achievements than Joe Biden did on the last day of his. The entrance of the Trump team into the negotiations was the difference in Gaza. Biden opened his administration with the promise of “a new era of relentless diplomacy.” But after four years … Continue reading “Trump One; Biden Nothing”