Donald Trump has given Vladimir Putin the immense prestige of a one-to-one meeting. But he has also raised tariffs on India for doing business with the same man. He ambushed Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in February. But he hosted him again this week with some bonhomie. As for ending the war in Ukraine, he won’t give that violated nation a security guarantee of the kind that applies to Japan, the Philippines or indeed most of Europe. But he doesn’t rule out some kind of US backstop.
To all these cases of ambiguity, there is a natural reaction. “It could be worse.” I wonder.