The Trump administration needs to engage Moscow and avoid, at first, involving Kyiv.

The president-elect called Biden’s decision to support such strikes ‘stupid’

The only path to an enduring resolution of the Russian-Ukrainian war lies through a broader agreement on a framework for the future of European security. The larger geopolitical settlement needs to precede the final resolution of the narrower issue of Russia’s relations with Ukraine.

Anyone who was even remotely paying attention knew that if former President Donald Trump got elected on Nov. 5, a ceasefire in Ukraine would soon follow. Trump of course was elected, and thankfully, that ceasefire is now on its way.

The Biden administration is urging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to lower the draft age from 25 to 18 to boost the military amid the ongoing conflict with Russia, but such a move could have detrimental effects on Ukraine’s struggling demographics.

Trump and other leaders reportedly discussed the plan but it’s a trial balloon that should be shot down immediately

In Zbigniew Brzezinski’s The Grand Chessboard, published in 1997, the year NATO expansion began, the Polish-American sovietologist described post-Soviet Russia as a „black hole.“ As we all know, a black hole draws any and all objects into it once they enter their field of gravity. It turns out that Ukraine has beome the world’s black hole, with Russia and all the world affected by the conflict. Effects include but are not limited to a restructuring of the international system and a split oft he world into two camps, a weakening and redirection of trade relations, a brerakdown in consideration of international law, and growing authoritarianism worldwide. In brief, the NATO-Russia Ukrainian War is dragging much of the world into the conflict directly or indirectly. In some cases, participation — however attenuated or indirect – is already leading to deepening involvement. In the event the war continues, many countries will be dragged inexorably beyond indirect action (military and other forms of assistance) and then direct action (military participation), including perhaps open combatant status. It is how these latter two aspects related to military-related support of and direct military participation in the conflict are overlapping with or helping to revive other conflicts that I attempt to address below.

From Russia’s perspective, the increasingly serious talk about Western/NATO peacekeepers in Ukraine (even if they operate on a non-NATO mandate) is already concerning enough, but its threat perception would further worsen through Polish participation in such a mission.

How the war could come to a close next year.

The incoming president told Time he “strongly disagrees” with firing U.S. missiles into Russia, words that could soothe nuclear tensions between Washington and Moscow, reports Joe Lauria.