Donald Trump’s upcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin will be crucial in determining a new world order. The Ukrainian imbroglio remains a barrier to understanding between the two nuclear powers. China, Taiwan, and Europe will feel the impact. But the negotiations are fraught with pitfalls and could potentially lead to world conflict.

Trump will be under pressure to shield Kyiv even if it frustrates his desire for a comprehensive peace settlement. The neo-conservative wing of his party, led by Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton, no doubt wants Trump to make no concessions. The Democrats, led by former ambassador to the Russian Federation, Michael McFaul, would agree with Graham and Cotton – no compromise.

Of course, Steve Witkoff, Trump’s chief negotiator regarding Ukraine, is a realist and would never have negotiations with Putin if he were inflexible; neither would the President, who is open-ended and more concerned with American interests than with satisfying the desires of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Unlike Joe Biden, Trump has a more sophisticated view of the War.

The Maidan Coup engineered in 2014 by Victoria Newland, John McCain, with assistance from then Vice-President Biden, overthrew a legally elected government. When some provinces revolted, the Ukrainian government resorted to repressing the districts of Luhansk and Donbass. This was a violation of the Minsk Accords and represented a threat to Moscow.

Also, in any event, it is more complicated than the Biden administration made it seem when Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022. Goaded by the European Union, Zelenskyy was given a blank check and unrealistically went for total victory. Understandably, perhaps, realistic absolutely not. Trump will not sell out Ukraine, but neither will he foolishly become an advocate of its delusional demands. Even with the events on the ground, Ukraine has little room to maneuver.

Indeed, American hawks never have any genuine regard for those who pay a financial price in supporting weak regimes, which are American citizens. Additionally, their language renders diplomacy moot. Graham, in an awkward statement, praised Trump, expressing his hope that he would treat Putin as Reagan allegedly did with Mikhail Gorbachev. This is not smart. The United States treated Gorbachev so shabbily that it allowed the corrupt Boris Yeltsin to take part, eventually paving the way for Putin in 2000.

This passion for domination defies building a mutually prosperous arrangement. Whether Graham realizes it or not, if he is taken literally, he insists on Pax Americana, which is unsustainable. The contradiction between American hawkishness and lasting peace is apparent. Neo-conservatives are the architects of “endless wars.” Perhaps Trump and his associates should be allowed enough leeway to fashion a peace, without being restrained by the hawkish peanut gallery, whether it comes from Democrats or GOP denizens of the George W. Bush school of constant conflict.