American President Donald Trump voiced frustration Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin for continuing to launch attacks in Ukraine after having “very pleasant” phone calls in which Putin indicated a desire to reach a peace agreement. Once again, Putin appears to have badly miscalculated, much in the same way that the Iranian mullahs miscalculated when they tried to drag out nuclear negotiations with the United States. Trump is showing that he is not afraid to punish countries when he concludes that they are not dealing in good faith. In this brand-new episode, in addition to the war in Ukraine, China is also the center of the conversation.

Dr. Alexander Motyl is an American historian, political scientist. He is professor of political science at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey and a specialist on Ukraine, Russia, and the Soviet Union.