麻豆约拍

Three years on from the invasion of Ukraine, President Trump has called President Zelensky a 'dictator', leaving many to conclude that the US has sided with Russia. We have entered a new phase of an already unstable global order. Keir Starmer meets Donald Trump this week. How should Britain respond? Emphasise friendship in the hope of gaining influence in Washington or stand up to Trump in the knowledge that it will damage relations?

On Ukraine, there are those who argue it鈥檚 clear cut: Putin is the dictator, Zelensky is a war hero, and sometimes we have to fight for our values no matter the sacrificial cost. But Trump鈥檚 supporters believe ending the war is the moral priority, and if peace comes at the cost of land, that鈥檚 a deal worth doing.

But History tells us that realpolitik only gets us so far. Bluntly, Trump鈥檚 detractors don鈥檛 see him as a rational actor on the world stage, pointing to his plan for Gaza. Domestically, they say, he鈥檚 behaving like an authoritarian dictator. To his followers, Trump is an important disrupter who is shaking America and the West out of its complacency.

Where should lines in the sand be drawn in negotiations? When is it better to be pragmatic than principled? When should moral conviction trump realpolitik?

Chair: Michael Buerk
Producer Dan Tierney
Assistant producer: Peter Everett
Editor: Tim Pemberton

Panel:
Giles Fraser
Mona Siddiqui
Inaya Folarin-Iman
Tim Stanley

Witnesses:
Mykola Bielieskov
Peter Hitchens
Brian Klaas
Jan Halper-Hayes