I actually think that the Russians are exploring the idea: Is it worth ending this conflict in the Donbass in eastern Ukraine, creating peace, getting out, and what would that look like? I don't think they're committed to it yet; I don't think they've made a decision one way or the other - but I think they're exploring it.
People want strength. They want American values. They want American interests. They want to be successful. And I'd say that's on both sides of the aisle, as well as any divisions even on the Republican side.
You know, I would like to think that the right way to do things is that the people who actually have the jobs that are nominated by the president, confirmed by the Senate, have responsibility for different regions in the world - that they have responsibility for the policy.
I care about Ukraine's success as a country; I'd like to see the conflict resolved. I'd like to see us getting back to the idea we - you know, over many, many administrations, starting with George H.W. Bush and onward, we talked about a Europe whole, free and at peace. That we're looking to promote democratic societies, prosperous, market-driven societies and security for everybody, indivisible, including Russia. And we have never gotten there.
I think in Russia's case, they want to have a Ukraine that is pro-Russian, Russia-friendly, a government they can work with. And yet, by invading the country and taking part of the territory, they've produced a more nationalist, more Western-oriented, more unified Ukraine than ever existed before.
The big issue is whether Ukraine is successful as a country. Democracy. Market economy. Prosperity. Security. And so on. And whether we can resolve this conflict, which I think is an important step in restoring sovereignty, restoring territorial integrity in Europe, getting beyond the impasse that we have with Russia now, that's where we would like to go.
If we are going to have any improvement in U.S.-Russia relations - which I think should be an objective of the United States - we don't want to stay where we are. We'd like for this to be more constructive. Then we're going to have to see progress on Ukraine.
Trump wants to make peace; he wants to see Ukrainian conflict resolved; he wants to see Ukraine get its territory back. It's crystal clear. With Putin, I think we see glimmers; we see a reason to think maybe they do. But they have to make the choice to do that, and they can very well choose the opposite.
You know, Russia brings it on. People don't want to be Russia hawk. People would like - that's what the president always says: We would like to get along with Russia. But what Russia is doing makes it really hard.
We shouldn't be lowering standards for NATO membership; we have to insist on democracy, reform, market economy, anti-corruption, reformed military, contributions to common security, interoperability - all the things that the Czechs had to do, the Poles had to do - they're still on the table. Which means that Ukraine is a long way away from getting to that point.
The way I think of it is that Russia is not going to change fundamentally. They may change tactics; they may look at their interests and figure out what actions they take, but they're not going to change fundamentally. And they're going to try to gauge what will the responses be to things that they do, and what will our things be. And here, they do wonder what is the level of our resolve? How far are we willing to go? And that is something that is very hard to gauge.
