It is very challenging at times to understand the current administration's foreign policy.
Our vice president articulates a historically wrong isolationist approach, yet the administration is actively involved in trying to solve numerous international conflicts. In addition to a potential nuclear agreement with Iran, a historic meeting with the new Syrian president who was once a designated terrorist and efforts to bring home innocent hostages still held in Gaza's tunnels, there are ongoing efforts to negotiate a cease-fire and long-term peace between Ukraine and Russia.
This thankfully does not seem like isolationism.
I am looking forward to spending part of my summer in Ukraine, where I help send Ukrainian youth to U.S. summer camps. Three years into this effort, I have seen with my own eyes how these kids — only days removed from being in bomb shelters — are able to just be kids again.
We will also discuss an interesting initiative to help disabled Ukrainian military men and women recover through the use of sports. And, through the help of generous donors, we are sponsoring more than 60 Ukrainian athletes’ attendance at the Maccabiah in Israel, the second-largest sporting event in the world with over 10,000 global Jewish athletes.
It can be easy to get dispirited given the 11 years of conflict in Ukraine, which began with Russia’s unlawful takeover of Crimea in 2014 and the brutal 2022 invasion and bombardment of the entire nation. Yet I continue to be an optimist and am still hopeful a just and long-term peace is possible.
To achieve this, I am hoping President Donald Trump's eyes will open to the fact that Russia — not Ukraine — is the sole obstacle to peace. Russian President Vladimir Putin is a liar who cannot be trusted and a war criminal responsible for rapes, beheadings and, worst of all, the unlawful kidnapping of nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children.
Putin refuses to stop the brutal war that he started, and feels there is no need to reverse course given America's current unwillingness to take more assertive action. Most Americans continue to support assistance to Ukraine, and it is time our president understands that America First does not mean walking away from our longtime allies and abandoning our democratic principles in order to appease a brutal autocrat.
Have we not learned from history that appeasement is always a losing proposition?
But indeed, there is a strategic pathway to get Putin to negotiate in good faith. U.S. officials should demand that Putin immediately come to the diplomacy table — or else the United States will: join European allies in boosting foreign aid to Ukraine, especially with munitions manufactured in the U.S.; impose additional sanctions on Russia’s energy industry; fast-track Ukraine’s entry into NATO and the European Union; put satellite defense systems over Ukraine; and support NATO providing air support to guard Ukrainian airspace.
Merely getting to a deal with Russia should not be the only goal. Rather, it must be a just and sustainable deal, with security guarantees, so that Ukraine is not attacked yet again in the future by Russia. I have seen the courage of the Ukrainian people (and the horrors of the war) with my own eyes, and it is imperative we assist Ukraine in regaining its freedom and sovereignty.
Some may call the above naive and unattainable, but it is imperative that the United States, along with our European allies, stay unified, put collective pressure on Russia and bring a cessation to the current conflict.
America is still greatly admired and respected by people from around the world, and it is well time we demonstrate that American values include compassion and support for a country in great need. My belief is that peace and prosperity are still dreams worth fighting for. In the words of the great basketball coach Jim Valvano, "Don't give up. Don't ever give up."