Having met with furious resistance from the Europeans and the Ukrainians, Trump and his allies are walking back their comments about the future settlement with Putin. Of course the Ukrainians and NATO members will have a seat at the table during the negotiations. And everything is on the table, including escalation, if Putin won’t moderate his demands. We wouldn’t just throw away all of our leverage up front, would we? That wouldn’t make sense!
And yet, it is exactly what they did. Putin will not be impressed.