Commentary and Analysis

Ivo Daalder weighs in on President Trump's phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The US and Russian governments argued last week about who should get the credit for winning World War II. Both have the wrong takeaway, Paul Poast writes.

"The way that this war stops is very simple," Ivo Daalder argues. "It is when the pressure on Russia is significant enough that they decide that the benefits of continuing the war are outweighed by the benefits of stopping."

"A majority still want to support Ukraine, but it has slipped," Dina Smeltz tells NPR. "And the reason it's slipped is because the Republicans have tanked."

A new Chicago Council-Ipsos poll sheds light on American attitudes toward the Russia-Ukraine war.

"It seems Americans might not be as inclined toward peace at any cost as Trump is," Aaron Blake writes, citing new Council-Ipsos polling.

"Rather than innocent mistakes, the stupid policies on display today seem more like the result of willful ignorance," Paul Poast writes of a range of current world leaders.

"You can't just look at what Trump is saying to really get a sense of what the administration as a whole is trying to achieve," Paul Poast says.

Bobby Ghosh, Prashant Rao, and Liz Sly join guest host Carla Anne Robbins to discuss the week's top news stories.

Will Trump be able to deter rival great powers from taking even more aggressive actions during his second term? Daniel Drezner offers his take.