Translation of an op-ed by Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2019-2022), for the Daily Mail, by the Conservative Platform.
Well, it was perhaps the most nauseating episode in the entire shameful history of international diplomacy. It was nauseating to see Putin being welcomed on American soil.
I was sick to my stomach from applauding him on the red carpet.
It was disgusting to see his Gollum-like smile when he became one of the few world leaders who, as I recall, was invited to ride in the back of the presidential limousine.
It was frankly sickening to hear how he was given an American platform for his lies about the reasons for the war in Ukraine, a country that in 2014, when he first attacked it, posed no threat to Russia.
Listening to the sweet and nauseatingly predictable manner in which he tried to both flatter and discreetly humiliate Donald Trump, I was sickened. I’m sure you were too-and most of us aren’t even Ukrainians.
Imagine being one of those beleaguered heroes in a dugout near Pokrovsk, fighting for the freedom of your country, and hearing the President of the United States – ex officio captain of the Free World team – call Vladimir Putin “boss.”
Nausea.
Think of the tens of thousands of Ukrainian widows and orphans. Think of the maimed and mangled; think of the Ukrainian civilians who live in fear of Putin’s bombs and missiles every day and every night – which continue to fall even as the so-called talks were taking place in Alaska.
Ask yourself how they felt when the President of the United States, in a sense the world’s highest guarantor of freedom and democracy, talks about the “fantastic relationship” he has with Putin, the dictator who has been torturing their country for three and a half years.
It was a disgusting moment, because Putin is a war criminal whose constant lies, twisting and aggression are directly comparable to Hitler’s actions.
Sometimes one hears that the White House’s goal is to “stop the deaths” or “stop the killings” in Ukraine, as if the blame lies on both sides. What nonsense.
The blood of every Russian who died in this conflict is on Putin’s hands. The blood of every Ukrainian who has died is on Putin’s hands.
All the carnage and tragedy in Ukraine is the fault of one man, because right now there would be no war, no bloodshed, no catastrophe, if it were not for the ongoing arrogance, stupidity, and fundamental miscalculation of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
That’s why it was so hard to swallow the spectacle of Putin swaggering around at the Alaska summit. That is why this event seemed so unacceptable.
And yet, like many of the most unacceptable steps in historical diplomacy, this meeting was certainly justified and even necessary.
Despite all the vomit, Trump was right to try. He was right to meet with Putin, because while millions of Ukrainians looked at the red carpet for the Russian tyrant with horror, they also looked with hope.
They hoped that maybe, just maybe, this legendary New York dealmaker could work out a solution that would end the war – but preserve what they wanted and needed, namely their country’s freedom, sovereignty, and independence.
Donald Trump was and is right to take the risk, because he knows that one day Putin will make a deal. His position in Moscow is much weaker than it seems.
The Russian economy is beginning to creak under the burden of war. Unemployment is rising, as are inflation and interest rates.
Putin has seen one of Russia’s largest oil customers, India, suddenly and unexpectedly affected by Trump’s secondary sanctions; Bloomberg reports signs that Indian hydrocarbon buyers are already moving away from Russia.
Most importantly, Putin is still unable and will not be able to break the spirit of the Ukrainian resistance. Yes, it is very difficult for Ukrainian soldiers now, and yes, with titanic efforts and at great expense, Putin has managed to achieve some small successes in the east, theatrically timed to coincide with the Alaska summit.
But these advances have again been held back by the Ukrainians, and as of mid-August, the much-hyped major Russian summer offensive of 2025 has yet to take place, let alone succeed.
Trump was 100% right to sense a chance for peace, and he is right to want to achieve it. He is one of those who – along with Benjamin Franklin – believe that there has never been a good war or a bad peace, and he is right about that, too.
But it was clear to observers of the summit-and I think to the American negotiators in the room themselves-that Putin did not want peace, at least not on terms that the United States or Ukraine could accept.
Anyone who has worked with Trump and knows his moods could tell that this meeting was not a success. The announced lunch did not take place.
There were none of the promised discussions of some mouth-watering new US-Russian trade cooperation or Arctic cooperation. Instead, the summit ended abruptly and several hours early with a completely empty press conference, where Trump – unusually – did not answer questions from journalists.
The meeting was valuable in only one sense: in Alaska, Trump came face to face with reality.
Putin essentially wants to control Ukraine and make it a vassal state of Moscow again.
Ukrainians fundamentally want to be free, and in this endeavor they have the long-term support of other Western democracies and, importantly, of Trump himself, as well as Melania Trump, the First Lady, who is increasingly influencing her husband’s views.
Trump the realtor realized that it’s not about real estate. It’s not about geography or territory. It’s about destiny.
It is about the right of Ukrainians to choose their own destiny as a free and independent European nation. This means that the war will not end until Putin accepts the truth: he has lost the battle for Ukraine’s destiny.
Only when this happens-when Putin accepts the spiritual truth that is obvious to anyone who has been to Ukraine-will we have peace.
Frankly speaking, I doubt that Donald Trump will like today’s global headlines. I don’t think he likes the idea that Putin has outplayed him, that Trump has rolled out the red carpet for an outcast – he has spent a lot of political capital – and received nothing in return.
Failure in Alaska will only strengthen, in my opinion, his growing conviction that the only way to resolve this is to increase pressure on Putin now.
No one really expected the US president to go further and impose secondary sanctions on countries that continue to buy Russian oil and gas, but he did.
What about Britain? What about Europe? When will we find the courage to do the same? This is our continent. We keep demanding leadership from America – and when it comes, we don’t even have the courage to follow.
Someday this war will end in a peace that protects Ukrainian freedom; but as Trump said in Alaska, Europeans – led by Britain – will have to step up.
