Why is Trump’s Ukraine plan coming unstuck?

Trump’s plan in Ukraine hasn’t worked out for US imperialism

The old Russian proverb “carrying water in a sieve” is a humorously bleak description of futility. After the last week, it’s becoming an apt way of characterising the United States’ strategy in Ukraine.

Donald Trump once boasted that he would end the war in one day once he was president—and began talks with Russia in February. This week Trump called Putin “absolutely crazy” and said he was “absolutely” considering more sanctions on Russia.

Why is he flip-flopping over Putin?

Firstly, Trump wasn’t negotiating with Putin because he’s “pro-Russian”—no matter what the liberals claim.

The war in Ukraine is a proxy war between US imperialism and Russian imperialism, which has torn the country apart for more than a decade.

Joe Biden didn’t care any more than Trump about Ukrainian freedom or self-determination. His real aim was to weaken Russia and send a signal to the US’s main rival, Chinese imperialism.

Here, the US strategy was to “bleed Russia dry” through “managed escalation”.

This meant giving Ukraine enough arms to tie down Russia’s forces and drain its resources without risking a wider conflict between nuclear-armed powers.

But now Ukraine has turned into a stalemate—and the war pushed Russia and China closer together. Ukrainian intelligence said this week that China is supplying Russian arms factories with vital resources.

Trump—like Biden before him—recognises China as the main threat. So he wants to cut US losses in Ukraine, focusing on Asia and pulling Russia away from China’s orbit by cutting a deal with Putin.

Secondly, Trump’s aim is to maintain US dominance in the world in the face of major challenges.

But he doesn’t want to do so primarily through the institutions of the liberal capitalist order, which US imperialism has built since 1945.

Instead of “multilateral agreements” between the US and many allies, the Trump administration said it would focus on bilateral ones with states.

He wants to bully allies and foes alike into doing what the US wants through military and economic threats. But that rubs up against the crisis of US imperialism.

Whatever his boasting, Trump can’t just get his way in Ukraine and is unlikely to pull Russia away from China.

This doesn’t make the situation any less dangerous—and it means the slaughter in Ukraine will grind on.

European leaders like Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron are readying new sanctions against Russia. And they’re pushing through rearmament programmes off the backs of working class people at home.

The lesson of Ukraine for the left is don’t line up behind your own ruling class and their war drive.

No ‘radicalism’ here

Liverpool FC’s Premier League winning celebrations were cut short on Tuesday after an enraged driver ploughed into crowds. The driver injured nearly 50 people in the city centre.

The incident has been met with heartfelt messages from politicians, players and clubs internationally and the mainstream media.

No one is asking what “radicalised” the driver. No one is calling for an inquiry into his motivations. No one is crying out about the failure of integration or multiculturalism.

Why? Because he is white and British.

Last year the knife attack in nearby Southport in Sefton, was exploited by fascists to launch pogroms against immigrants across the country.

Lies spread quickly about the attackers’ religion, ethnicity and extremism—because he was black.

A similar attack on crowds in Munich in Germany this year was met with calls from the far right to start mass deportations—because the attacker was from Afghanistan.

The racist double standards are glaring.