BySteve Forbes,
Forbes Staff.
Negotiating a peace deal with Vladimir Putin isn’t the same as negotiating a real estate deal in Manhattan.
Governments, especially democratic ones, are prone to making two major foreign policy mistakes: miscalculating the motives of the opposing parties in negotiations and overestimating the importance of economics in how such states determine their diplomatic and military strategies. We may see this graphically and tragically play out in the talks to try to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
President Trump and U.S. officials are hoping that Vladimir Putin can be enticed into an agreement by the prospect of multibillion-dollar deals for extracting oil and gas, mining minerals and constructing hotels, office buildings, resorts, high-tech parks and so much else. They believe similarly dazzling prospects will also soften up Ukraine into making compromises as well.
