A month after Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met in Alaska, the hope that a single personal encounter might loosen the war in Ukraine has faded into disappointment, and the same pattern is visible in Gaza, where fighting is deepening rather than receding. The story belongs to an old human temptation: believing that conviction and charisma can dissolve conflicts that have resisted generations of patient negotiation. Observers now ask whether the peacemaker's enthusiasm will last longer than the difficulty of the work, and whether the machinery of diplomacy has been left thin enough to bear the
Trump's Nobel-Seeking Peace Push Stalls as Ukraine, Gaza and Qatar Tensions Mount
Ongoing conflict in Ukraine and Gaza continues to affect civilians, though the article does not quantify specific casualties.
"He really let me down."
Mark
Trump says Putin let him down. What had he expected from Alaska?
Mimi
Apparently a breakthrough. A month later there is no progress on Ukraine, and he is still talking as if the summit should have paid off.
Luke
Worth noting that his expectation is inferred from his words. The reporting shows disappointment, not what he privately anticipated.
Mark
And Gaza? How does Qatar fit in?
Mimi
Israel targeted Hamas inside Qatar, which is a US ally and has been hosting negotiations. Trump said Israel has to be very careful.
Luke
That's a warning in words only. Nothing here says what, if anything, follows from it.
Mark
Why does Max Bergmann call it a merry-go-round?
Mimi
He argues peace deals are very hard and that Trump lacks experienced diplomats around him. He compares it to someone with no background doing a hotel deal.
Luke
That's one analyst's view, from a former Obama State Department official. The White House counters with praise from European leaders.
Mark
What about the structure of the team?
Mimi
The National Security Council staff has been dramatically cut, and Marco Rubio is both secretary of state and national security adviser.
Luke
And Kroenig's question about when Trump moves on is a question, not a prediction. The piece doesn't give casualty figures either, so the human cost stays unquantified.
Il Polso
- Trump says Putin 'let me down,' and the Alaska summit's promise of progress in Ukraine has dissolved into frustration.
- Israel's new Gaza City offensive and its strike on Hamas inside Qatar, a host of talks, have jolted an already fragile regional diplomacy.
- Trump keeps brandishing his Nobel ambitions and promising 'world peace' at the UN General Assembly, even as his two biggest conflicts intensify.
- Critics warn that personal dealmaking and a sharply reduced National Security Council leave little structure to sustain any path toward settlement.
- The trajectory is uncertain: no breakthrough is in sight, and civilians in both Ukraine and Gaza continue to bear the cost of stalled talks.
A month after Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met in Alaska, the hope that a single personal encounter might loosen the war in Ukraine has faded into disappointment, and the same pattern is visible in Gaza, where fighting is deepening rather than receding. The story belongs to an old human temptation: believing that conviction and charisma can dissolve conflicts that have resisted generations of patient negotiation. Observers now ask whether the peacemaker's enthusiasm will last longer than the difficulty of the work, and whether the machinery of diplomacy has been left thin enough to bear the weight.
A month after Donald Trump sat down with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, he still sounds surprised that the meeting failed to bring peace to Ukraine. "He's let me down," Trump said this week. "He really let me down."
The disappointment reaches beyond Ukraine. In Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is launching a new offensive in Gaza City, and after Israel struck Hamas inside Qatar, a US ally hosting negotiations, Trump warned that the parties "have to be very, very careful."
That frustration sits uneasily with the confident image Trump projects abroad. He touts his diplomatic record, campaigns for the Nobel Peace Prize, and when asked what he hoped to achieve at the UN General Assembly, he answered "world peace." Yet his two most prominent conflicts seem to be deepening.
Max Bergmann, a former Obama State Department official now at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, described the past nine months as a "merry-go-round." Trump favors bold gestures, he said, but settling wars among hostile parties is far harder, and the president lacks experienced diplomats around him.
The White House points to European leaders who have praised Trump's efforts and to his claim that he hires "only the best people." Matt Kroenig, a former Pentagon policy adviser, grants that Trump's brashness can produce results, but he also sees a pattern of giving up on hard problems, as with North Korea. "At what point does he say, This is too hard, let's move on?"
The machinery is thinner than usual. Trump has sharply cut the National Security Council's staff, and Marco Rubio serves as both secretary of state and national security adviser.
The article offers no figures on the human toll in Ukraine and Gaza. It shows a president heading to the UN with a stated goal of world peace, stalled tracks in both wars, and critics asking how long he will persist before the problems prove too stubborn for a single dramatic move.
A month after he sat down with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska, President Donald Trump still sounds surprised that the meeting did not bring peace to Ukraine. "He's let me down," Trump said this week. "He really let me down."
The disappointment is not confined to Ukraine. In West Asia, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is starting a new offensive in Gaza City and has been striking out across the region. After Israel targeted Hamas inside Qatar, a US ally that has been hosting diplomatic negotiations, Trump offered a warning: "They have to be very, very careful."
The tone sits awkwardly beside the image Trump tries to project abroad, one of confidence and command. He promotes his diplomatic record and campaigns openly for the Nobel Peace Prize. Asked what he hoped to accomplish at the coming UN General Assembly, he answered "world peace." Yet the two most prominent conflicts he has taken on appear to be intensifying rather than winding down.
Max Bergmann, who served at the State Department under Democratic President Barack Obama and now works at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, was blunt about the past nine months. In his view, the peace efforts amounted to a "merry-go-round." Trump favors bold gestures, he noted, such as the stealth bomber strike in Iran or a sweeping tariff announcement. Assembling a settlement among warring parties is a much harder puzzle. The basic reality, Bergmann said, is that reaching peace agreements is very hard, and Trump has not surrounded himself with experienced diplomats and foreign policy specialists. He offered a comparison: if someone asked him to go do a hotel deal, it would be a terrible deal and he would lose a lot of money.
The White House sees it differently. It has pointed to European leaders who have praised Trump's efforts to broker peace agreements, and Trump often says he hires "only the best people."
Matt Kroenig, a senior Pentagon policy adviser during Trump's first term, acknowledged that the president's brashness can produce results. He cited Trump's demand that European allies raise their defence spending. But Kroenig also pointed to a pattern in which Trump spins his wheels on harder problems and eventually gives up, as when he tried to persuade North Korea's Kim Jong Un to end his nuclear programme. Applied to Ukraine and Gaza, Kroenig asked, "At what point does he say, This is too hard, let's move on to other issues?"
The machinery behind the effort is also thinner than usual. Foreign policy is typically a team sport for presidential administrations, requiring extensive coordination among agencies through the National Security Council. Trump has dramatically cut the council's staff, and Marco Rubio is serving as both secretary of state and national security adviser.
The article does not put figures on the human toll of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. What it does show is a president heading into the UN General Assembly with a stated goal of world peace, a stalled track in each major conflict, and critics asking how long he will stay with problems that refuse to yield to a single dramatic move.
Citazioni salienti
This whole last nine months of peace efforts were just a merry-go-round.— Max Bergmann, Centre for Strategic and International Studies
At what point does he say, This is too hard, let's move on to other issues?— Matt Kroenig, former Pentagon senior policy adviser
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