Patience running thin: As spring turns to summer, Russia’s offensive in Ukraine is growing stronger, and Donald Trump is growing frustrated. It’s easy to see why, writes the Hudson Institute’s Mike Watson.
The Trump administration, Watson observes, “believed that another attempt to normalize political and economic relations with Russia” and pressuring Ukraine to make a deal would “demonstrate American good faith to the Kremlin.” But offers of “sanctions relief, economic cooperation, and other goodies” have not brought a deal to end the war. Now, Trump is left with few good options, particularly as Russia strengthens its economic relationship with China.
“Imposing costs on Moscow, such as endorsing the sanctions bill winding its way through the Senate and launching a full-fledged campaign to dismantle Russia’s global influence, could convince Putin to take a deal, but it would not be the kind that pulls Moscow away from Beijing,” writes Watson. “Putin may decide after the summer’s fighting to accept some of Trump’s terms and reconstitute his forces for the next phase of the war. But for Trump, this would be a strategic failure.
“Trump has been adamant that this war is Joe Biden’s, and since Biden had little interest in making a Ukrainian victory possible, Trump is dealing with the consequences of his predecessor’s failure. But until Trump decides what he wants more—a deal with Putin or an end to this war—he is likely to twist in the wind.”
READ MORE: Why Trump Is Perplexed by Putin
The bully pulpit: Harvard Divinity School graduates gathered for their commencement ceremony on Thursday. Harvard faculty members selected student Zehra Imam to speak. Clad in a keffiyeh, she used the occasion to laud Elom Tettey-Tamaklo, a classmate who faced criminal charges for assaulting an Israeli business school student.
“Class of 2025, Palestine is waiting for us to arrive,” Imam said. “Elom Tettey-Tamaklo … our friend and classmate who continues to show up not just for Palestine, but for each of us by extending to us the water we need in our most vulnerable moments.” The crowd erupted in whoops and cheers.
A Harvard spokesman said that faculty members selected Imam, who is known for her anti-Israel advocacy, to speak based on a speech from which she deviated. Maybe the other speech mentioned God, Harvard, the divinity school, something other than Palestine? We’ll never know.
“Bravery” at 60 Minutes: Lesley Stahl joined the long line of current and former 60 Minutes and CBS News staffers who have spoken out against their boss, Paramount head Shari Redstone. The 83-year-old journalist told The New Yorker Radio Hour she’s “angry” at Redstone over her attempts to save Paramount’s merger with Skydance by settling a lawsuit from Donald Trump.
“It steps on the First Amendment. It steps on the freedom of the press,” Stahl said. “It makes me question whether any corporation should own a news operation.”
“Stahl’s remarks are the latest escalation in the increasingly public battle between 60 Minutes staffers and Redstone,” writes our Collin Anderson. “Host Scott Pelley first concluded an April episode of 60 Minutes by saying Paramount ‘began to supervise our content in new ways.’ Weeks later, during a Wake Forest University commencement address delivered last week, Pelley compared ‘this moment’ to the U.S. Civil War and Second World War and defended the DEI initiatives that Paramount has pledged to end.”
“60 Minutes aired its season finale last week and will not return until September. Outbursts from Pelley and Stahl, however, have kept the spotlight on Redstone even with the show off the air.”
In other news:
- Jen Psaki’s move to primetime is not helping MSNBC’s poor ratings, which have continued to tumble after she took over Rachel Maddow’s coveted 9 p.m. slot. Womp womp.
- A tech staffer at the Defense Intelligence Agency allegedly attempted to “pass classified intelligence to a foreign government” because he “didn’t agree ‘with the values’ of the Trump administration,” the Wall Street Journal reported. Righteous!
- “Never forget” appears to have a different meaning for former New York Times and Washington Post darling Taylor Lorenz, who tweeted that young people “correctly recognize that 9/11 didn’t happen in a vacuum, it was a direct response to/consequence of US foreign policy in the middle east. The more u know abt what the US has done in the middle east the more u understand why many believe the US deserved 9/11.” The latest window into the mindset of the reporters who staff these newspapers.
This article was originally published at freebeacon.com
