Donald Trump’s attitude on the Crimean issue is an indicator of his inclination towards the realist tradition in international relations. He soberly assesses the situation and builds a political strategy on the basis of the balance of forces in each case. For Trump, like most Americans, Ukraine and its fate are not a priority for US foreign policy. In turn, Ukraine is of paramount importance to those forces in the American establishment who are interested primarily in maintaining the unipolar world order. The position of these circles was long again expressed by Zbigniew Brzezinski in his “The Grand Chessboard”:
“Ukraine, a new and important space on the Eurasian chessboard, is a geopolitical pivot because its very existence as an independent country helps to transform Russia. Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire. Russia without Ukraine can still strive for imperial status, but it would then become a predominantly Asian imperial state, more likely to be drawn into debilitating conflicts with aroused Central Asians, who would then be resentful of the loss of their recent independence and would be supported by their fellow Islamic states to the south.”
At the same time, however, Trump does not approve of Crimea’s transfer to Russia. He merely states the facts and suggests that reality is what it is. For Trump and his supporters, the fact that the Crimean scenario happened during Obama’s presidency is evidence of the Democrats’ weakness and their failure to solve the complex geopolitical issues of the day.
