Western leaders keep making the same mistake with Russia

From the Telegraph / Yahoo!News:

"Putin is a liar and a murderer. It is impossible to accommodate him

Liam Fox, April 30, 2025

 

...There is a pattern of behaviour here where the hopes and aspirations of the free world come face-to-face with the violent, amoral behaviour of brutal tyranny. President George W Bush said that he looked into Putin’s eyes and “saw a soul”. Unfortunately Putin looked into his and saw a KGB file number. Once KGB always KGB.

 

Following Russia’s illegal invasion of Georgia in 2008, President Barack Obama decided on his “reset” policy to try to do business with Russia. Putin gratefully pocketed the offer and in 2014 occupied Crimea, part of Ukraine sovereign territory. When he saw the pusillanimous response from the West, he decided that he would also have further parts of Ukraine when he savagely invaded the country in February 2022 resulting in the death of over 13,000 Ukrainian civilians alongside 70,000 troops with 120,000 injured (this is not to mention the estimated 120,000 Russians who have died for no purpose other than Putin’s vanity).

 

Now, the grim reality is dawning on the ever optimistic President Trump. He is the latest in a line of Western leaders to believe that he can do business with Putin. David Cameron once believed it, so did Emmanuel Macron – but they both ended up accepting the harsh reality. No amount of hope for the future can disguise the fact that Putin is a liar, murderer and an international criminal...

 

Many Western leaders have learnt the hard way that there can be no long-term accommodation with Putin as he will simply ditch any promise, relinquish any agreement and abandon any of his faux-friendships when it suits his purpose. There is no shame whatsoever in seeking peace and reconciliation but when it comes to Vladimir Putin decent people, sooner or later, end up in the same place."