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When you want it bad, you get it bad: Steve Witkoff and the US push to end the war
Opinion

When you want it bad, you get it bad: Steve Witkoff and the US push to end the war

by Daniel Fried

"When you want it bad, you get it bad." That’s how one of my colleagues on the Clinton National Security Council staff described the problem when a U.S. administration chases after an objective so hard that it either forgets what it set out to achieve or simply goes for a "win," no matter the cost or consequence. That’s the weakness of much of the Trump administration’s approach to seeking a deal to end Russia’s war against Ukraine: it sometimes seems to want any deal, not a sustainable deal.

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Outrage, disgust, but little surprise — Ukraine reacts to bombshell Witkoff leak

An explosive leak implicating top U.S. negotiator Steve Witkoff in shady dealings with Russia has sparked shock and astonishment not only in the U.S. but also in Ukraine. According to conversations leaked by Bloomberg on Nov. 25, U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Witkoff advised a Russian official on how to sway the White House. Ukrainian lawmakers, soldiers, and experts told the Kyiv Independent that the leak proves Witkoff could be a tool of the Kremlin rather than a neutral mediat

U.S. negotiator Steve Witkoff in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 18, 2025.
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