On July 29, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Donald Trump in the White House. Their relationship was “much better,” Zelensky said, because of the turning tide in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Zelensky’s narrative of the turning tide has been amplified by the media. The European and American public believe that Ukraine is now winning the war because that is what the headlines trumpet every day. And credit for the turning tide is awarded to innovations in drone technology that have allowed the Ukrainian Armed Forces to strike deep inside Russian territory. But the much-heralded deep...

Last week, on the sidelines of the NATO summit, Volodymyr Zelensky repeated his demand that Ukraine be invited to join NATO, which was bold, considering that Ukraine’s president wasn’t even invited to the NATO summit. Zelensky attended a leaders dinner but was not invited to speak at, or even attend, the summit’s meetings. This year, Zelensky’s argument for NATO membership took a new direction. While the Ankara Summit Declaration, released at the end of the summit, renewed NATO’s “unwavering support for Ukraine in defending its freedom, sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” it did not...

The Ukrainian Armed Forces were in trouble. Russian assaults and Ukrainian desertions had left a weakened force with an unsolvable manpower shortage. Weapons were running out, and America’s war on Iran had diverted the most needed military equipment, including Patriot interceptors, with no solution in sight. With a Russian summer offensive on the horizon, for the first time, collapse and defeat was a real possibility. And then, just at the crucial moment, the Ukrainian Armed Forces turned the tide. Innovations in drone technology blunted the Russian advance bringing it to a near standstill....

Going into the illegal war against Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump had four key goals: regime change, ending Iran’s nuclear program, eradicating Iran’s missile program, and cutting Iran off from its proxies. He promised that all four would be achieved quickly without compromise: “There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” Iran did not surrender, and there has been plenty of compromise in making a deal. Not one of those four goals was accomplished on the battlefield. And little more was won at the negotiating table. That does not mean that extending the ceasefire under...

One of the biggest obstacles to peace negotiations with Iran is history. Three quarters of a century of experience with the United States has taught Iran caution, starting with the 1953 betrayal that took out the popular and democratically elected leader, Mohammad Mosaddegh, in a U.S. supported coup. During the current rounds of war and negotiation, American perfidy has repeatedly interrupted talks with missiles. “Due to the experiences of the two previous wars, we have no trust in the opposing side,” said Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of Iranian Parliament and one of the leaders of the...

Editor's Note: This article was originally delivered as a speech at the West Suburban Peace Coalition Educational Forum on May 4, 2026. Within a few days at the end of March, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky made two claims. He revealed that Russia had given him two months to withdraw all forces from areas still under its control in Donbas, or Russia would take it by force and change the terms of the settlement. Russia said that was not true. And he said that the United States had conditioned security guarantees on Ukraine withdrawing from Donbas. “That’s a lie,” U.S. Secretary of...

The war on Iran was neither inevitable nor necessary. As recently as March 3, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi said the IAEA “has found no evidence that Iran is building a nuclear bomb.” On March 18, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told a Senate Intelligence Committee that since the first round of bombing Iran in Operation Midnight Hammer, “[t]here has been no efforts…to try to rebuild their enrichment capability.” She testified only that Iran “could…begin to develop a militarily viable ICBM [intercontinental ballistic missile] before...

Not distracted by the war on Iran, on March 3, President Donald Trump, once again, warned that Cuba was in its “last moments.” The next day, he said, “It may be a friendly takeover. It may not be a friendly takeover. It wouldn’t matter because they are down to, as they say, fumes” before admitting that the United States has caused a humanitarian disaster in Cuba. Trump’s rhetoric has continued to escalate. On March 17, Trump said,  “I do believe I will be having the honor of taking Cuba. Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it. I think I can do anything I want with it. They’re a very...