Republican Takes

Navy SEALs securing the deck of Russian oil tanker Volgoneft-147, 2000

Just a reminder for the historically confused, even the Nazi called themselves Socialists. They were totalitarians that believed in Big Government and State control. They were leftists. As Ayn Rand correctly noted back in the 1950s that Fascism, Nazism, Communism, and Socialism were fundamentally the same, describing them as "only superficial variations of the same monstrous theme—collectivism".

Dear American friends, Europe is your closest ally, not your problem. And we have common enemies. At least that’s how it has been in the last 80 years. We need to stick to this, this is the only reasonable strategy of our common security. Unless something has changed.

Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and realistic ideas. And achieving a durable peace will require both sides to agree to difficult but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of potential ideas for ending this war based on input from both sides of this conflict.

Any Ukraine-Russia peace plan has to: 1) Stop the killing while preserving Ukrainian sovereignty. 2) Be acceptable to both Russia and Ukraine. 3) Maximize the chances the war doesn't restart. Every criticism of the peace framework the administration is working on either misunderstands the framework or misstates some critical reality on the ground. There is a fantasy that if we just give more money, more weapons, or more sanctions, victory is at hand. Peace won't be made by failed diplomats or politicians living in a fantasy land. It might be made by smart people living in the real world.