This is a straightforward defeat. A defeat, not just for Ukraine , but for the values which the Anglosphere and its allies have upheld since 1940, to the immense benefit of the human race. Aggression is being rewarded. Borders are being changed by force. A brittle dictatorship has defeated a Western alliance with a combined economy forty times larger than its own. The prestige of the democracies is suffering a Suez-level hit.

As Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin meet in Alaska – a venue surely proposed by the Kremlin , both to demonstrate that Putin is again welcome in the United States and to suggest that there is nothing terribly new about ceding territory – all the momentum is with the Russian leader .

From the moment he took office, Trump has been wheedling and conciliatory with

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