High Diplomacy with Trump 2.0

Laura Rozen makes a valid point that should be clear to people who have been following the Trump 2.0 government’s amateurish negotiations over the Russia-Ukraine War with particular reference to the recent “proximity” talks in Saudi Arabia.

She reported on June 211 “that the U.S. side aspires to make enough rapid progress to be able to announce a ceasefire deal in short order. It also hoped to hold some sort of trilateral meeting with all three parties as early as Tuesday [March 25].” (1)

Even if I thought the Russia position was correct and represented the best option for the world, I would still say this is shockingly dumb diplomacy on the Trump team’s part:

The American side is far less experienced than its Russian counterparts. And some of its members show a disturbing predilection to be spun and deceived by the Russians.

Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who has become the administration’s chief counterpart with the Russians, this week gushed about the Trump/Putin phone call on Tuesday, and expressed the conviction that Putin was acting in good faith.

While Ukraine reported hundreds of Russian drones and missiles continued to attack Ukrainian cities following the Trump/Putin phone call, Witkoff said that he believed what the Russians were evidently falsely telling him, that Russia had shot down its own drones based on an order by Putin.

“Pres. Putin issued an order within ten minutes of his call with the president directing Russian forces not to be attacking any Ukrainian energy infrastructure,” Witkoff said in a video interview on Wednesday posted to Twitter.

“The Russians tell me this morning that seven of their drones were on their way when President Putin issued his order and they were shot down by Russian forces,” Witkoff said. [my emphasis] (1)

This screenshot from The Independent today would give you the impression that Paul McCarney is now conducting the ceasefire talks on the Russia-Ukraine War.

Maybe we should wish for that instead of having Trump’s real-estate crony and now US Special Envoy to Everywhere Steve Witkoff handling it.

I mean, McCartney would at least have the wit to say, “Now, I haven’t done this kind of thing before. But I can see that this bloke Putin is lying to me.”

Notes:

(1) Rozen, Laura (2025): As it rushes to finalize Ukraine ceasefire, signs US team vulnerable to Russia manipulation. Diplomatic 05/21/2025. <https://diplomatic.substack.com/p/as-trump-rushes-to-finalize-ukraine> (Accessed: 26-03-2025). The March 25 meeting to which she refers is apparently the one that did take place this week, which produced an alleged ceasefire in the Black Sea for purposes of grain exports, though at this writing it’s not clear (to put it “dilopmatically”!) whether Russia has actually accepted that ceasefire arrangement.