It is a time for cold realism rather than an outdated nostalgia for American exceptionalism.

Policymakers in Moscow, Washington, and European capitals might have second thoughts about their current fractured and self-absorbed way of defining and addressing the Ukrainian crisis.

On January 10, American and Russian officials will meet to discuss Putin’s proposal on mutual security guarantees. Western media and political analysts have cast Putin’s demands that NATO not expand further east to Ukraine and that NATO not establish military bases in former Soviet states nor use them to carry out military activity as bold and impossible.

With tensions between the United States and Russia over tens of thousands of Russian troops now massed near Ukraine’s border, recent phone calls between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin last week and the announcement of U.S.-Russia talks in Geneva this month were both wise and welcome.

Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is now under investigation for high treason. His predecessor was convicted for it. Is this unstable democracy worth risking war with Russia to protect? The answer is a resounding no.

Stepan Bandera led Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which fought alongside Nazi Germany during WWII, killing thousands of Jews and Poles

It may just be the ultimate agreement that neither the US or Russia can refuse.

To seize the opportunity to avert a third world war with Russia and China, Biden should negotiate a comprehensive security agreement with Russia by building upon what Putin has outlined, while also taking decisive action to shore up America’s defenses against existential attack by U.S. adversaries.

Things are not looking good for U.S.-Russia relations. And they aren’t getting any better. Around 94,000 Russian troops are on the eastern borders of Ukraine. President Joe Biden threatened Russia with more sanctions and asserted that he will not abide by the “red lines” that Russia had established. NATO expansion into Ukraine has been the elephant in the room, which Russian President Vladimir Putin made blatantly clear in the latest meeting between him and President Biden.

Russian president’s attention-seeking diplomatic demands speak to long-held grievances