The pomp and pageantry of the Alaska Summit have come and gone, replaced now by the rolling-up of shirt sleeves and hammering out a possible peace agreement in Ukraine. As Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin discussed a deal, European leaders now are at the White House, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, hoping to make their contribution to the peace effort. Now that everyone is sitting down at the negotiation table, is real peace in Ukraine possible? New York Sun associate editor Ari Hoffman appeared on 710 WOR’s Mende in the Morning program to discuss the possibility that the three-and-a-half year long conflict may finally be at an end.
Hoffman told host Larry Mendte that cautious optimism should be the takeaway from the Alaska Summit: “One thing to look at is that Putin or Trump didn’t leave early. There was some talk of would the positions be so hardened that you’re just going to see a walkout. We didn’t see that, and so, at least those negotiations happened. Details are still sketchy, but all the Europeans are now getting to the White House. They’re going to be cooling their heels while Trump and Zelenskyy meet, so I think a lot of people could look foolish if they write this off as Trump’s folly.”
Hoffman feels the mass media has a double-standard when looking at a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine war, as compared to the fighting in Gaza: “Some of the same folks in the media are pushing a cease fire in the Middle East at any cost- including keeping Hamas in power, including conceding to Hamas’s demands- and yet, when it comes to Russia, they’re kind of opposed to even talking to Putin, so there’s a kind of shifting goalposts, I think, here.”
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