He Stopped a Nuclear War Between India and Pakistan
John Bolton, who served as US National Security Advisor under President Donald Trump, has provided detailed commentary on the US role in the ceasefire:
Bolton emphasized that India had a legitimate right to retaliate against terror threats and that its strikes were targeted at terrorist encampments. He clarified that while the situation escalated,
the ceasefire was ultimately negotiated through military-to-military communications between India and Pakistan, rather than through direct US mediation. Bolton noted that President Trump has a pattern of claiming credit for international diplomatic outcomes, regardless of the actual extent of US involvement:
He’s Bringing Putin to the Negotiating Table
There’s a peace summit being arranged in Turkey. Ukraine’s in. Russia’s sending delegates. Trump says he’ll go himself.
The first direct talks between Ukraine and Russia should have heralded a new era of diplomacy towards solving Europe’s largest conflict since World War II. Instead,
their context, brevity and limited outcome provided skeptics with more reasons to doubt Moscow wants peace.
The symmetry of the demands and the images was remarkable. In the past week, Trump has performed stunning diplo-gymnastics.
Putin shrugged off the demands for a truce and suggested direct talks in Istanbul. Zelensky said he would meet Putin there, and Trump offered to be an intermediary. Putin rejected all bar a junior meeting. And then Trump deflated any sense of urgency by adding he never expected Putin to attend without his also being in Istanbul, apparently concluding that “nothing is gonna happen” on Ukraine before he meets the Kremlin head.
The White House benefits from the Kremlin’s deft baby-steps, insincere, inching towards peace.
Russia does enough to permit Trump to pretend they are serious, while yielding no ground at all – even complicating matters Friday with a reported demand that Ukraine hand over territory Russia hasn’t conquered. There are enough vague, intractable whispers of diplomacy and further talks about talks, to provide the tantalizing promise of a deal, without striking, or even delineating one. Russia is playing for time, evidently, and amassing forces on the eastern frontline, drone images show, ahead of a likely summer offensive.
This week has perhaps helped elucidate where Moscow truly stands, but also too Trump’s reluctance to cause Putin pain. Clarity can be uncomfortable, and on Friday
a stark assessment of Trump’s policy came from his former Ambassador to Kyiv, Bridget Brink, who resigned last month. In an op-ed, Brink explained why:
“Unfortunately, the policy since the beginning of the Trump administration has been to put pressure on the victim, Ukraine, rather than on the aggressor, Russia…. As such, I could no longer in good faith carry out the administration’s policy and felt it was my duty to step down. ….Peace at any price is not peace at all ― it is appeasement. And history has taught us time and again that appeasement does not lead to safety, security or prosperity. It leads to more war and suffering.”
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/16/europe/ukraine-russia-talks-npw-analysis-intl
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