WASHINGTON A month after an Alaskan summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump still seems surprised that his gamble did not bring peace in Ukraine.
“He’s let me down,” Trump said this week. “He really let me down.”
No progress has been made in the Middle East either, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has launched a new offensive in Gaza City and struck across the region.
“They have to be very, very careful,” Trump warned after Israel targeted Hamas inside Qatar, a U.S. ally that has been hosting diplomatic negotiations.
Trump’s disappointment and frustration stand in contrast to the confidence and dominance he tries to project on the world stage, especially as he boasts of his diplomatic initiatives and campaigns for the Nobel Peace Prize. Asked about his goals for the upcoming U.N. General Assembly, the president replied: “world peace.” Yet the most high-profile conflicts appear to be escalating rather than easing.
“This whole last nine months of peace efforts was just a merry-go-round,” said Max Bergmann, a former State Department official under President Barack Obama, now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Bold gestures, but peace deals are hard to reach
Although Trump values bold gestures — a stealth bomber strike in Iran, sweeping tariff announcements — solving global conflicts is far more complex.
“The fundamental truth,” Bergmann said, “is that trying to reach peace agreements is very hard,” adding that Trump has not surrounded himself with experienced diplomats or foreign policy experts.
Matt Kroenig, a senior Pentagon adviser during Trump’s first term, noted that the president’s brashness can sometimes yield results, such as when he demanded higher defense spending from European allies. But on more complicated issues, he said, Trump tends to spin his wheels and eventually give up, as he did with North Korea.
On Ukraine and Gaza, Kroenig asked: “At what point does he say, ‘This is too hard, let’s move on to other issues’?”
Middle East turmoil deepens
In the region, Trump is increasingly caught in a volatile situation. While he has sought to strengthen ties with Arab nations such as Qatar and backed Israel’s military campaigns, Israel has now expanded its reach, striking Hamas leaders in Qatar — a move that has jeopardized negotiations and cast doubt on Trump’s ability to influence Netanyahu.
Some Arab diplomats now see Israel — not Iran — as their primary security threat, a notable shift from Trump’s first term, when the Abraham Accords brought Israel and Arab nations closer together.
Equivocal stance toward Putin
In Europe, Trump has baffled critics with his ambivalent stance toward Putin, at times suggesting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shares responsibility for the war that Moscow launched in 2022.
Trump insisted his meeting with Putin “accomplished a lot,” but “it takes two to tango.”
With recent Russian incursions into NATO airspace, including over Estonia, fears of escalation are rising. Speaking in the U.K. during a state visit, Trump vowed to stop the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine — but ended on a more philosophical note:
“You never know in war. You know, war is a different thing. Things happen that are very opposite of what you thought.”
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