As Steve Witkoff, the longtime friend and fellow real-estate tycoon that Trump appointed as chief negotiator on Russia, Ukraine, and the Middle East, said in an interview back in March, “I underestimated the complications in the job, that’s for sure. And if he is, we’ll respond a little bit differently.” On July 14, he said he would impose “very severe tariffs” on Russia if Putin didn’t make a ceasefire deal “in 50 days.” Then, on July 28, he shortened the deadline to “about 10 or 12 days from today, because,” he added, “I think I already know the answer” about Putin’s true intentions. The American diplomats of our golden era, in the decade after World War II—the likes of George Kennan and George Marshall—enjoyed huge advantages, which made exertions of strength possible, even easy: a nuclear monopoly, a surge in wealth and industry brought on by the war, and potential competitors waylaid—some buried in rubble—by the same war.
Author: Fred Kaplan
Published at: 2025-07-30 21:30:04
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