Trump’s geopolitical tactics outshine Biden's approach in Ukraine conflict

By Peter Marko Tase

The crucial phone call of President Donald J. Trump with President Putin, on Tuesday, March 18th, 2025, brought to the limelight the tireless efforts of the Trump Administration to end a bloody war that has succumbed to Ukrainian and Russian Armies in an impasse that Europe has similarly faced during the ruthless years of World War I. The impressive geopolitical tactics and discourse of President Trump are another vivid testimony of the deep contrast that has emerged between President Trump’s statecraft and the frightening weakness, extreme lack of leadership, and total abandonment of the War in Ukraine by Joe Biden. There are, truth be told, many components of weak leadership and corrupt practices of the Biden-Harris Administration that have weakened Washington’s Strategic advantage in International Diplomacy and Geopolitical Strategic Competition. Biden’s feckless and corrupt diplomats, and Barack H. Obama’s appeasement and lack of integrity, are the principal architects that attracted Moscow to begin for the second time the military annexation of Ukraine on February 24th, 2022. The historical context of the most brutal, bloody war since World War II is essential at a time when mainstream Western Media and US major newspapers are arrogant towards President Trump’s impressive leadership and results-oriented statecraft. From Associated Press and CNN all the way to MSDNC (MSNBC) and USA Today there has been imposed upon the American public a distorted view of the U. S. Presidency as the whole world has become particularly complex and most media and information literacy entities are a significant obstacle to Making America Great Again. USA Today and the New York Times are seriously distorting the portrayal of America’s political image across the Atlantic; defending in a way EU’s corrupt bureaucrats and setting aside the America First Policy. A true casualty of massive slander and defamation campaigns in the United States media and European newspapers has been the Republic of Azerbaijan, a strategic ally of the State of Israel and a strong defender of the Jewish community and other minorities throughout the Caucasus region. It is detestable to observe how a self-proclaimed U.S. International Politics expert Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, unleashed a flamboyant, false, and nasty campaign against Azerbaijan, publishing fake realities against the democratic government of Azerbaijan and its peace-loving people. “Analysts” such as Michael Rubin, who are deeply rooted in the back pockets of the Armenian autocratic regime, charging large amounts of money in exchange for publishing slander and damaging Azerbaijan’s international image, are a trend in today’s environment of the American mainstream information media.

According to the White House, Trump and Putin agreed to begin ceasefire negotiations in the Middle East, and respect Washington’s proposed 30-day ceasefire in Kyiv’s war with Moscow; a more limited 30-day ceasefire on energy facilities on both sides of the conflict.

“We agreed to an immediate Ceasefire on all Energy and Infrastructure, with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a Complete Ceasefire and, ultimately, an END to this very horrible War between Russia and Ukraine,” President Trump wrote Tuesday afternoon on Truth Social. President Putin is known to have a candid and pragmatic conversation with President Trump and there are no questions that the US President is the sole statesman globally that can bring peace to Ukraine. No other world leader can accomplish, nor has the integrity compass of President Trump, full stop.

The Kremlin has suggested some steep demands for broader peace talks, such as the “complete cessation of foreign military assistance and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv,” according to a press release published in Moscow.

In the process of upcoming tedious diplomatic negotiations, there will be demands for Ukraine to cede territory to Russia; these details are transparently articulated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Furthermore, Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO and the EU will be infinitely suspended.

The diplomatic proposals of the past two months were seen by the U. S. and European mainstream media as futile and opaque, Tuesday’s phone call between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, proved the opposite and what has been accomplished in less than three months under President Trump, is more than the twelve years of the Obama – Biden combined Presidencies.

In 2022, Former U. S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the most famous practitioner of international statecraft, wrote in his impressive book, “Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy”; “Leaders Think and Act at the Intersection of two axes: the first, between the past and the future; the second, between the abiding values and aspirations of those they lead. They must balance what they know, which is necessarily drawn from the past, with what they intuit about the future, which is inherently conjectural and uncertain. It is this intuitive grasp of direction that enables leaders to set objectives and lay down a strategy.” These tremendous concepts in geopolitics revealed by Secretary Kissinger are fully grasped and articulated by President Trump, who has a deep knowledge and unique instinct on how to deal with Moscow and apply strategic deterrence effectively.

Another point of leverage between Washington and Moscow, to the benefit of the former, is Japan’s strategic alliance with the United States. Japan has the best navy in Asia; according to Business Insider “their Kongo class destroyers share the Aegis combat system with the US's Arleigh Burke class of destroyer, which recently proved itself off the coast of Yemen.” Tokyo’s latest Izumo class "helicopter destroyer" can carry 14 helicopters and “engage in advanced anti-submarine warfare as well as air assaults.” The fact that President Trump hosted on February 7th the Prime Minister of Japan; who was elected prime minister just over a month before the U.S. presidential race; is instrumental in strengthening the US’s posture and strategic might in Eastern Asia, a geostrategic move that Moscow certainly observes carefully. During the visit of Shigeru Ishiba, President Trump said that “Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest steelmaker, would be dropping its bid to purchase U.S. Steel and instead would invest in the American steel manufacturing companies.” Ishiba Shigeru’s visit to Washington, as the second foreign statesman to visit the Trump White House, reaffirms the strength of the U.S.-Japan relationship and Japan’s status as a reliable defense and security ally. Japan's MSDF navy aircraft carriers are truly an outstanding military technology achievement and deterrence factor.

On the other hand, the European Union is weak, fragmented, and hit by economic recession and a demographic crisis. EU’s bureaucracy has been parochial and not pragmatic towards enhancing innovation, building knowledge infrastructure, and developing a common defense shield. Brussels suffers from the absence of clear strategic goals and is lagging in developing a highly integrated ubiquitous intelligence program. The EU must understand that today’s period of ubiquitous intelligence pressures Europe to face new challenges and menaces. As Dr. Youngjin Yoo, Associate Dean of Research, at the Weatherhead School of Management (Case Western Reserve University) rightfully argues: “the era of ubiquitous intelligence raises new challenges and risks, including unprecedented upfront capital investment at a scale we have never seen before, […] Withstanding these challenges, the trajectory is clear: we are entering a world where intelligence is abundant, accessible, and embedded in the fabric of life. Just as the near-zero marginal cost of reproduction and communication gave rise to the internet and the software revolution, the near-zero marginal cost of prediction and generation is driving the age of ubiquitous intelligence.”

As Ukraine is preparing to make significant concessions in the ongoing difficult diplomatic negotiations, the EU must harness transparent leadership, invest more resources, cut the red tape, and abide by Washington’s legitimate demands and strategic requests. Such a posture will greatly benefit Ukraine in the negotiation process and ultimately ensure a more peaceful, secure Europe.

The EU must also engage diplomatically and increase its economic partnership and trade strategy with the Republic of Türkiye, a nation that has unwavering geopolitical leverage in the Mediterranean Sea and beyond. Türkiye is the center of power in Eurasia, it has a dynamic leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and his team of strategic thinkers including Binali Y?ld?r?m and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu (among others), they both have been instrumental to place Ankara in the main stage of a complex geoeconomic landscape.

European Union strategic competitors can observe that Brussels has not implemented the Lisbon Agenda designed and approved in March 2000; the union must act quickly to embrace a knowledge-driven economy and swiftly enlarge its economic map by admitting the Balkan nations that belong to the European Geography but not to the exclusive EU club.

The results of the Moscow – Kyiv peace talks, stewarded by Washington, will heavily depend on the EU’s ability to get its act together and become more agile, effectively harness decision-making, and begin a military mobilization to outmaneuver any threat. Regardless of Brussels’ future geopolitical and defense course of action, President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Antonio Rubio are deeply committed to bringing peace to Ukraine and pressure Moscow to cease the hostilities.

There is no excuse, nor any geopolitical logic, for the EU to heavily rely on American taxpayers’ money - from the peak of the Cold War until today – to ensure Europe’s security and safety. It is time for Brussels to stop whining and defend its own eastern flank. Brussels’ weakness, paired with Washington’s appeasement strategy (shaped by the Obama and Biden administrations), including Ukraine’s disarmament program in the 1990s, are the root causes for Russia’s annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine in February 2014. While Ukrainian forces have widely adopted small and medium first-person-view (FPV) drones and AI-driven software that can expand battlefield autonomy; the EU continues with its excessive inclination of Summits, bringing together European leaders who repeat over and over the same statements of support for Ukraine, but in real life are hesitant to see the rubber hit the road. In the weeks ahead, the Washington – Moscow diplomatic negotiations in Saudi Arabia, will be instrumental in the creation and shaping of new geopolitical spheres of influence in Europe and ensure Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty as well as achieve the cessation of all hostilities.

Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editorial.