I wasn’t planning to write another article, given the rapid approach of Thanksgiving. But the leak to Bloomberg of Steve Witkoff’s phone conversation with Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy advisor, was so infuriating that I did write, again, about Trump’s disastrous envoy and his disastrous negotiation, for the Atlantic:
Pay attention to the dates, because the timing matters. Steve Witkoff spoke with Yuri Ushakov, a Russian official, on October 14. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on October 17. Trump had been hinting that he would offer to sell Tomahawks, long-range cruise missiles, to the Ukrainian army. But he did not.
Why not? Perhaps because Ushakov listened to Witkoff’s advice and persuaded Russian President Vladimir Putin to call Trump on October 16. Witkoff, in other words, may have helped block that sale. And that would make Witkoff responsible for prolonging the war.
I know many believe they have an explanation, but actually we don’t know why Witkoff always sees the war from the point of view of the Russians, or why he always seeks to persuade Trump of their point of view as well.
Continue @ Open Letters.
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