Category: Uncategorized

Background Briefing: May 19, 2025

Trump’s Phone Call Today With Putin and the Need For More Than Russia/Ukraine Ceasefire

We begin with President Trump’s two-plus hour phone call with Putin today along with his talks with President Zelensky, EU President Ursula von der Leyen, President Macron, PM Meloni, Chancellor Mertz and President Stubb. Joining us to discuss the need for a security arrangement that goes beyond a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine to encompass NATO and Russian coexistence is George Beebe, the Director of Grand Strategy at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He served in government for nearly twenty-five years, including as director of Russia analysis at CIA and as a White House adviser on Russia matters for Vice President Dick Cheney. His latest book is The Russia Trap: How Our Shadow War with Russia Could Spiral into Nuclear Catastrophe and he has a report at Responsible Statecraft, “Peace Through Strength in Ukraine: Sources of Leverage in Negotiations.”

 

A Ukrainian Perspective on Trump’s Conversations With the Warring Parties

Then we get a Ukrainian perspective on Trump’s conversations with the warring parties and speak with Natalie Melnyczuk, a consultant on Euro-Atlantic security and a professor of political science at Wayne State University. She has served as NATO Representative to Ukraine, as the Head of the NATO Information and Documentation Center in Kyiv, as a Political Officer in the Political Affairs and Security Policy Division at the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Section at NATO HQ in Brussels and as Manager of  U.S.A.I.D.’s  Parliamentary Development Project at the U.S. – Ukraine Foundation.

 

Trump and Family Have Elevated Corruption to an Industrial Scale 

Then finally we look into how American presidents and politicians have always been susceptible to corruption but Trump has elevated grift to an industrial scale. Joining us is Casey Michel, the Director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program at the Human Rights Foundation, as well as a writer, analyst, and investigative journalist working on topics ranging from kleptocracy, illicit finance, dark money, foreign lobbying, and foreign interference to the legacies of Russian and Soviet colonialism. He is the author of American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the World’s Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History and Foreign Agents: How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World, and we will discuss his article at The New York Times: “Trump Isn’t the First Politician to Sell the Office”