The Russian invasion of Ukraine was an unprovoked attack against an independent sovereign nation in violation of international law and numerous treaties. Putin is a war criminal, rightly indited by the ICC, and deserves to be put to death for the destruction of Ukraine. 

This is a fact that President Trump needs to fully understand and start dealing with pragmatically as failing will have significant geopolitical consequences. 

Trump's daily embarrassing commentary calling the president of Ukraine a dictator who should have never started the war and his steadfast placation to the autocratic mechanisms of Putin needs a reality check, which is difficult given his overinflated ego that makes him dangerous when it comes to objectively addressing the end of this conflict. 

The disgusting speech by the vice president at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) and the comments from a Secretary of Defence who is completely unqualified harmed our negotiating tactics before they formally commenced showing this administration is potentially a danger to the security of this nation, our allies and our influence globally. 

Those of us who studied and lived the Cold War, know only too well that the Russians have a calculated tenacity toward negotiations with a well-practiced arrogance that allows them to draw in a weak opposite party and gain concessions that normally wouldn’t be possible if not for the urgency of the situation looking for resolution; they are pros! 

The Kremlin may not be under the hammer and sickle, but that hasn’t diluted Moscow’s expertise in exploiting empathetic weak-minded leaders with delusions of grandeur which they have sadly found in the current American President. 

You never make any statements about a situation until you are at the table with them as they will exploit it as they have done for decades given they wrote the book on modern propaganda. 

This administration has no expertise at all in dealing with Russia and is already making rookie mistakes that seriously undermine the negotiating power of this nation as we must never let back into the international community any aggressor nation after they have unleashed murder, mayhem, and chaos without suffering the consequences of such. 

President Trump has the power to assemble a team that can make sure the winners here are the people of Ukraine, that Europe plays a major role in ensuring peace, and that Moscow pays significant reparations with numerous obligations to adhere to before it is invited back into the international community which it chose to ignore in the first place and pivotally that all war crimes against the civilian population by the Russian military are exhaustively investigated and prosecuted by the ICC; to do less would reward them and embolden future aggressors.

Ned Sader has more than two decades of public affairs experience working for corporations and nonprofits, with a specialty in the development of public/private partnerships. He has served on numerous regional boards and is a lifelong resident of Wayne County, PA.  You can find more of his writing here.