**Trump’s Winning Middle East Strategy Offers a Roadmap to Peace in Ukraine**
President Donald Trump struck a landmark Middle East deal by following a simple strategy: do the opposite of what Joe Biden did. This same approach, many argue, could help bring peace to Ukraine.
**How Did Trump Succeed Where Biden Failed in Ending the War Between Israel and Hamas?**
Trump replaced Biden’s failed strategy of “withhold, restrain, and appease” with one of “arm, unleash, and obliterate.” Under Biden, critical weapons transfers to Israel were repeatedly withheld or delayed in an effort to restrain Israeli military operations against Hamas. For example, Biden stopped the delivery of 2,000-pound bombs that Congress had approved and slow-rolled other weapons such as 500-pound bombs, Joint Direct Attack Munition kits (which transform bombs into guided munitions), Hellfire missiles, as well as tank and mortar shells.
Biden also pressured Israel not to carry out its successful offensive in Rafah—the very operation that allowed the Israel Defense Forces to locate and kill Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. At the same time, Biden sought to appease Iran by beckoning it to rejoin the Obama administration’s nuclear deal, easing enforcement of oil sanctions, and allowing Tehran to more than double its cash reserves (which had been depleted under Trump).
This weakness on Biden’s part only served to drag out the war.
**Trump’s Decisive Reversal**
Upon retaking office, Trump decisively lifted Biden’s restrictions on weapons transfers to Israel. He sent the 2,000-pound bombs and other critical armaments and gave Israel a green light to conduct new military operations against Hamas.
More significantly, Trump launched Operation Midnight Hammer, which obliterated the Iranian nuclear program and left Hamas’s patron weaker than at any time since the 1979 Iranian revolution.
Together, these actions laid the groundwork for Trump’s success in convincing Israel and the Arab world to embrace his 20-point plan to end the war with Hamas.
Importantly, Trump did not persuade Hamas to accept his peace plan voluntarily. Instead, he used a combination of military, financial, and diplomatic pressure to corner Hamas—leaving it no choice but to release hostages and agree to disarm.
**Applying the Same Strategy to Ukraine**
That is precisely the roadmap Trump should follow to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his war on Ukraine.
Like Hamas, Putin has no intention of voluntarily giving up his campaign against Ukraine. Trump will have to force Putin to the negotiating table by imposing unsustainable military and financial costs on Russia.
The best way to do that? Just as Trump supplied Israel with weapons Biden withheld, he should sell Ukraine Tomahawk cruise missiles. These weapons would allow Kyiv to strike deep into Russia, reaching previously impervious military targets with payloads far greater than what Ukrainian drones can carry.
Putin claims that giving Ukraine cruise missiles would be a “new stage of escalation.” That’s absurd. Since his 2022 invasion, Putin has fired more than 2,400 cruise missiles into Ukraine, targeting schools, children’s hospitals, residential neighborhoods, apartment complexes, and shopping malls.
Giving Ukraine the ability to respond with Tomahawks would not be escalation. It would be a proportional response to Putin’s escalation. Unlike Putin, Ukraine would use the missiles strictly against military and industrial targets—not civilians.
**Potential Targets and Impact**
With Tomahawks, Ukraine could:
– Destroy the massive Alabuga drone factory in Tatarstan, which is producing thousands of Iranian-designed drones attacking Ukraine.
– Strike Russian air bases from which Putin launches cruise missiles and glide bombs devastating Ukrainian cities.
– Sever the Kerch Strait bridge connecting Crimea to Russia, complicating Russian resupply efforts.
These missiles would be a game changer, inflicting severe economic and military damage on Russia and leaving Putin no choice but to seek peace.
**Putin’s Failed Escalation Tactics**
Putin understands the threat, which is why he is again playing the escalation card he used so successfully on Biden.
For three years, Putin’s saber-rattling caused Biden to slow weapons transfers to Ukraine. At the war’s start, Biden blocked Poland from sending even older Soviet MiG-29 jets and delayed delivery of F-16 fighter jets until July 2024. He took over seven months to provide Ukraine with the first Patriot air-defense system, refused Abrams tanks until September 2023, and only recently allowed the use of longer-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles.
Each time Biden grudgingly delivered the requested weapons, Putin’s threatened escalation failed to materialize.
Had Biden supplied Ukraine with these weapons early in 2022, when Russian forces were faltering after failing to capture Kyiv, Ukraine might have won the war long ago.
**Trump Won’t Fall for the Same Ploy**
Now, Putin is trying the same strategy on Trump. But unlike Biden, Trump is unlikely to fall for the ploy. You don’t beat Trump at the game of escalation dominance.
In the Middle East, Trump brokered peace by reversing Biden’s feckless policies and imposing devastating costs on Iran and its terrorist proxy, Hamas. He can do the same in Ukraine with one simple step:
**Send the Tomahawks to Ukraine.**
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2025/oct/18/marc-a-thiessen-putin-bluffed-biden-it-wont-work-o/