Marvin Kalb is a former CBS journalist and anchor of “Meet the Press” by NBC, whose last book is called “A Different Russia”. Given the news of the week on Ukraine, his thoughts could not be more timely:
I have been a journalist for over 70 years, focusing on American foreign policy. I was the Moscow correspondent for CBS, his diplomatic correspondent, and I covered the one and only summit meeting in 1961 between President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev.
I learned that a summit, without detailed preparation, can lead to a disaster. A summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin seems to me a very problematic bet.
Trump described the War in Ukraine As a “bloody mess” and promised to finish it quickly. Putin would also like to end it quickly, but on her terms.
Interesting, his terms seem to ride with Trump. First, a cease-fire in place (which means that Russia retains about 20% of Ukraine).
CBS News
Second, Ukraine is excluded from NATO and, probably, from the European Union; It becomes a “neutral” nation, not aligned with the West (what Ukraine wants), but with Russia.
This agreement could End in the war, as Trump promised. But Ukraine, left aside in the cold, would rightly shout the “betrayal”, pointing a bloody finger in the United States and will only launch desperate guerrillas against Russia.
In another form, therefore, war would continue.
NATO, the rampart formerly reliable against Russian aggression, would be indeed broken, unable to depend on the word of America or its military support.
On the other side of the world, China could be encouraged to attack Taiwan, which he has often threatened to do. Would the United States protect Taiwan more reliable than Ukraine?
If this type of Ukraine agreement should occur, this would send a scary message that America has actually changed. Remember that the United States has promised the world that it would help Ukraine “as long as it takes it”. But an agreement leaving Ukraine in a ditch would mean that the role of America as a world leader in trust would now be a thing in the past.
Read an extract: “Different Russia” by Marvin Kalb
The veteran CBS and the journalist NBC writes on the cover of the 1963 Cold War Summit between President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev.
For more information:
- “Another Russia: Khrushchev and Kennedy on a collision class” by Marvin Kalb (Bookbaby), in commercial pocket format, available via Amazon And Barnes & Noble
History produced by Liza Monasebian. Publisher: Carol Ross.
