Be nice to Putin and he will do a deal!

There is a new strategy in the White House for dealing with President Putin. If you are nice to him, he will immediately back away from aggression in Ukraine and agree to a peace deal. That is the only conclusion one can reach following Donald Trump's decision to lift a whole bunch of sanctions against Russia. Trump said it was part of a process to move towards a settlement. In other words, offer a carrot instead of a stick to Putin. Putin's response? He ordered massive targeting of Ukraine's energy plants overnight, turning out the lights and turning off heating for hundreds of thousands of people. No, Mr Trump, giving a juicy carrot to Putin has the opposite effect. He will take the lifting of sanctions, thank you so much, but he has no intention of giving anything in return. Why should he? He's doing fine because he has Trump on his side. Putin only responds to strength. Before the Trump move, fixed without Congress approval, the view held by most experts, military and civilian, was that the only way Ukraine could force Russia to the negotiating table was to achieve such effective results on the battlefield that Putin would have no alternative but to seek a deal before he lost everything he had gained from the invasion of Ukraine. But the lifting of sanctions, even if temporary, gives Putin a new lease of life. He can now hammer away at Ukraine throughout the winter until, as he hopes, Kyiv begs for mercy. This is not going to happen. But it's hardly surprising Zelensky is so angry with his one-time friend in the White House.