The one president in my lifetime to show any real diplomacy was Nixon. Nixon faced a terrifying coalition in the Soviet Union and communist China. There was tremendous anti-communist sentiment in the country, but, despite this, Nixon came up with a strategy to weaken this dangerous coalition vis-a-vis the US.
To everyone’s surprise, he made a personal trip to China to assuage the communist Chinese leadership. This was real diplomacy because it was eminently in US interest to weaken that dangerous coalition, even to the point of making peace with your ideological enemy — here the Chinese communist party.
Fast forward to the situation today: surprisingly, Trump faces the exact same dangerous coalition. The proxy war in Ukraine, waged by the US/Nato, has driven the Russians into the arms of the Chinese, even though Russia is no longer a communist country, but in fact one that holds elections and is predominantly Christian.
Trump should take a page from Nixon’s playbook in order to weaken this same dangerous coalition. That would be real diplomacy a second time by a president in my lifetime. But instead of rapprochement with China, it should be with Russia.
There are many reasons why such a rapprochement with Russia makes total sense in terms of real US interest. For one, Russia is chock full of nuclear missiles aimed at us. Such a rapprochement would vastly reduce this risk. Secondly, Russia is a country rich in natural resources, so there would be enormous opportunities for US companies to mutually benefit from economic development in this country. Finally, as mentioned, Russia does hold elections and is predominantly Christian, so this country is ideologically compatible with our political regime.
Will Trump have the stones to do what Nixon did and do some real diplomacy here? It obvious what he should do. Cut off all military and political support for Ukraine, forcing a settlement of the proxy war on Russian terms. Dropping all sanctions, particularly with regard to Russian oil. Perhaps a minerals deal with Russia, like the one with Ukraine, and discussion concerning American assistance in developing Russia’s oil and natural gas resources. A personal trip to Moscow, just like Nixon did with China.
Henry's Views 