The time has come for the liberal world to say “no” to President Trump.
Europe’s leaders are heading for Washington today to support President Zelensky and Ukraine’s sovereign integrity in the face of Trump’s impatience that he cannot bring about a peace that will pave the way for him securing a big business deal with Putin – and his much coveted Nobel Peace Prize.
Until now, at every turn, UK and European leaders have (sometimes embarrassingly) been acting, as if Trump and his acolytes can be both flattered and persuaded to act rationally according to our liberal worldview. However, Trump is acting rationally according to his own worldview, not ours. And he views Russia under Putin as having the potential to be his foremost business partner in the world. For Trump, Ukraine is just a nuisance that is getting in his way.
No credence can be given to Trump enacting further “economically severe, yes … very severe” sanctions against Russia as this would weaken what MAGA can eventually gain from Russia economically.
Trump was convinced by Putin at their summit in Alaska that we should dispense with a ceasefire in Ukraine and go directly to a peace agreement. It no doubt appeals to him because he thinks he can get a speedier solution that way. Yet it pushes the war to continue without respite while peace negotiations take place, with the danger it may lead to the collapse of Ukrainian morale on the frontline, achieving the very territorial concessions Putin is trying to gain.
Putin knows very well that a major Ukrainian concession such as ceding the whole of Donbas will cause great discontent in Ukraine and further destabilise the current Ukrainian government. A peace agreement will lead to elections in Ukraine. Trump wants Zelensky out while Russia will try to push its supporters into power, using the same influence tactics that have been successful in former Soviet Union republics such as Georgia and are being used in Moldova. Putin may not need to fight any more to gain all of Ukraine later.
We do not yet know the details of the “game-changing” security guarantees announced by Trump’s business partner Witkoff to end the war in Ukraine. They are suspect because they have already been so readily accepted by Putin, not least because Trump has reiterated that he will block Ukraine entering NATO. Recent history has shown written guarantees are worthless in Ukraine’s case, whether they are enshrined in legislation or not.
With Trump now trying to sell out Ukraine to clear the path for a US-Russian economic partnership, the time has come for our leaders to come to their senses and to see that the U.S. under Trump is no real ally anymore. A trilateral summit between Zelensky, Trump and Putin could be a very dangerous move without European leaders present.
We need to be bold and ensure five steps are taken to strengthen Europe’s security:
- If there is a cessation of hostilities, the Coalition of the Willing reassurance force must now come into being, primarily in the air and also on the ground in Ukraine. We must do our best, given the shrunken numbers of Europe’s armed forces, with or without the U.S.. In fact, having the U.S. may be more an impediment.
- We must carry through without delay the increase in Europe’s defence expenditure (which Trump forced Europe into last June) to better deter Russia, spending the money wisely, moving fast to shore up our military capability gaps where possible while weaning ourselves away from being so reliant on U.S. weapons.
- If Trump tries to backtrack on the one-sided trade deals he has imposed on the UK and EU which are hurting our citizens and driving down our GDP growth, we should not shirk from taking him on. The EU has pretty powerful trade instruments that can be deployed. He is not called TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) for nothing
- We must make it difficult for Russia to conclude a business partnership with the U.S.. The EU should not necessarily lift its sanctions on Russia if Trump lifts his. The EU must continue to enact its 19th package of sanctions against Russia irrespective of what Trump does (he may even lift U.S. sanctions on Russia).
- We must absolutely never return Russia’s frozen assets as part of any U.S. deal with Russia – we would be cutting out own throats as they would allow Russia to fund the next war and more against Europe. Let’s be decisive and stop dilly-dallying around. We must spend Russia’s frozen assets to arm and reconstruct Ukraine, rather than further draining our debt-ridden economies to help Ukraine out.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer needs to address the British Nation to explain the gravity of the situation and appeal for public understanding and support. So must other European leaders to their citizens.
* George Cunningham is Vice-Chair of the Lib Dem Friends of Armed Forces and Honorary President of Lib Dems Overseas. https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-cunningham-a6b160178/
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17 Comments
We all know that Ukraine (and its supporters) want a ceasefire before negotiations because it is gradually losing ground and a ceasefire would stop this while allowing time for it to build new fortifications and rearm. Ukraine does not want negotiations to end the war since negotiations mean compromise and Ukraine is refusing to make any compromise (perhaps rightly, but that is not the point.) Russia realised this and therefore wants to negotiate the end of the war and then a ceasefire will be the first stage of implementing the peace agreement. Trump now understands this and is keen for a negotiated end to the killing. Russia appears to have made an offer – it is now up to Ukraine to make a counter proposal and start negotiating or to announce that there will be no compromise and the war will continue until either Russia or Ukraine is defeated. If Ukraine chooses continued war, I think Trump will stop the USA financing it.
Witkoff has belatedly invented his “game-changing security guarantees” in order to kid everyone that Trump won something from Putin in Alaska. He didn’t.
Trump thinks he nearly got a deal out of Putin, but didn’t quite. What was missing? Something for Trump himself, like a mineral deal, no doubt.
How will Trump get a better deal out of Putin? Probably by throwing Zelensky to the wolves, and humiliating Europe as well.
Excellent article. We must not buy into Russian psyops and propaganda. Based on UK MOD assessments (15 August 2025) Russia would take another 4.4 years to take the rest of the territories it is occupying in the four Ukrainian regions it has in its sights (and have declared as officially part of Russia according to their constitution). It would also cost Russia 1,930,000 further casualties (killed and wounded). This is in addition to the approximately 1,060,000 casualties Russia has already likely sustained since launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. We can and must face Russia down if we are to mount any defence for the rule of law and prevent escalating security threat to European states.
Nb the most painful part of what the UK now has to do: to increase defence spending significantly, without cutting deeply into other important aspects of public spending. And the most delicate issue: can we maintain those parts of the US/UK ‘special relationship’ on which the UK has depended – in nuclear deterrence, military cooperation and above all intelligence – or can we hope that MAGA will pass and a Democratic USA will return? Whatever the answer to that, much more active realignment with the EU and other European governments is a priority.
@Brenda: ‘Russia appears to have made an offer..’ The only offers Russia has ever made have been basically asking Ukraine to surrender, give up territory, disarm, and promise never to join Nato. In return for nothing but ‘guarantees’ Russia cannot be trusted to honour.
If Ukraine ‘chooses continued war’ it will be because the alternative is even worse to contemplate.
When they last met, Trump claimed that Zelensky had no cards. But Putin’s cards should be really weak given the state of his economy, number of casualties, and likely casualties if he prolongs the war pending total conquest of the Donbas. Putin’s trump card, however, is Putin. Trump is saying “give him your cow in return for a tin on beans” and is offering guarantees that would only be worth something if Trump knew what he was talking about (“Zelensky started the war”) and did not constantly change his mind. Giving up what Russia has failed to conquer, as well as what it has conquered, in return for a very small amount of what he has conquered elsewhere is not a deal and Zelensky must not be held hostage. The war can be ended immediately, but only by Vladimir Putin and Trump should recognise this. If the doesn’t the Norwegian parliamentarians who are the Nobel Peace Prize judges will not reward Trump any more than they would have awarded the prize to Mussolini…
Putin’s trump card is *Trump*.
Putin’s trump card is *Trump*
If Putin has the Donbas ,Kyiv will be threatened from the east as well as the north.Kharkiv also.Then all Putin needs to do is bide his time.Much the same way that the Nazis took Prague a few months after the Munich treaty was signed.
@Steve – can I make a suggestion: Here are some good sites that will tell you what has actually been happening in Ukraine:
For general news:
BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news
The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/uk
The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/
The Times: https://www.thetimes.com/
Or for a European perspective – le Monde (in English): https://www.lemonde.fr/en/
For information about the human rights situation:
Amnesty: https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/europe-and-central-asia/eastern-europe-and-central-asia/ukraine/report-ukraine/
Detailed information about the military campaign:
Institute for the Study of War: https://www.understandingwar.org/
These are sites where the contributors are trained journalists or other experts, who are normally committed to reporting the facts. They will be much more accurate than the one-man-blogs and Russian propaganda websites that you normally post here. Read some of them and you might actually become better informed.
A powerful article. 2035 is absurd as a deadline for hitting our defence spending target, as a (rising) percentage of GDP. Putin will probably strike Westen Europe, particularly trying to re-establish the old USSR borders, much sooner, catching us when we’re unready. Surprise matters.
We need to be significantly ready by 2027- 2028.
Yes, it was unfair to aim for substantial welfare cuts to help pay for this at least partial readiness without the better off contributing their share too. Starmer is painted into a corner over tax rises but the threat to our country’s freedom and democracy was less acute in July 2024 than it is now.
Tax rises are inevitable.
As the Economist said recently, Labour MPs can’t say that any welfare cut is immoral, even if it’s unaffordable.
We should inform Starmer (preferably off the record) that we’ll support him if he makes a PM speech focusing the nation on its danger and on the sacrifices required to avert it.
Co-ordinating with EU leaders over such declarations to their own electorates, will also help, if at all possible.
The sooner W.Europe can stand on its own feet against Putin, the better but we can only achieve this through sacrifice.
‘Having our cake and eating it’, over the cost, is unrealistic and will lose us our freedom if we limit ourselves to that misleading approach. Voters will thank us in the end for our leadership and foresight, as they eventually thanked Churchill.
“Where all use the same sources and think alike, no one thinks very much.” (From Walter Lippman)
Where Steve uses Russian propaganda sites, he not only does not think at all, but also becomes a Russian stooge.
I would also add Deutsche Welle’s excellent website on the war in English: https://www.dw.com/en/russias-war-in-ukraine/t-60931789
If we can see through Trump why cant the free worlds leaders see it and do something.
Saying NO!
I wont knowingly buy anything from the USA whilst Trump is its leader
@Steve: The list I gave you wasn’t one single source: I suggested various different news sources that have different political leanings, as well as some well respected specialist sites – so there is a good variety there, and complaining about them all thinking alike doesn’t cut it.
Has it crossed your mind that maybe the reason that all these different professional sources are reporting that Russia has invaded a sovereign country, that there is no apparent justification for the invasion, that Russian forces have generally behaved abominably, that Russia is deliberately targetting civilians, etc. etc., just might be that this what is actually happening? After all, it’s hardly surprising if multiple sources, all dedicated to professionally reporting the facts, do actually broadly report the same facts.
Judging from the links you keep posting here, it looks to me like for some reason you wish to deny the reality of what is happening in Ukraine, and of the events that lead up to that, and you’re turning to any wacky, unprofessional, or outright propaganda site you can find to back you up in that. Why you are doing that I do not know, but reading that kind of stuff is really not going to lead to a good understanding.
Thank you all for your comments and support for our common cause. I am glad our leaders seem to have done a good job in Washington and put Putin on the backfoot for now (until Trump switches positions again). Chris is right that Putin is not in as strong a military position as he makes out. Brenda and Tony, your inputs have certainly add to the analysis as well. Yes, William, it always boils down to our European partners being the most reliable since we espouse the same values and same challenges within our neighbourhood. On finding the money for more defence expenditure, the UK government is negotiating to join the EU’s new Security Action for Europe (SAFE) fund which will offer €150 billion in low-interest loans to support joint procurement efforts. No doubt we may also be forced to find budgetary savings at home if we cannot grow the UK economy fast enough, which will be controversial.