Territorial Concessions: A European Strategy That Has Failed Before

In a recent proposal, President Donald Trump signaled willingness to recognize all Russian-held Ukrainian territories in exchange for Ukraine’s neutrality (Politico, August 11, 2025). Such a recommendation calls to mind the 1938 Munich Agreement, in which British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain pressured Czechoslovakia to surrender the Sudetenland to Adolf Hitler in hopes of securing “peace for our time” (Holocaust Encyclopedia). Both of these negotiations excluded the nation most affected: Ukraine was absent from recent United States-Russia summits in both Alaska and Riyadh, and Czechoslovakia’s government received no invitation to Munich, undermining any sense that the result was a truly fair settlement. Prime Minister Chamberlain returned home holding aloft a signed agreement with Hitler, confident he had staved off war. Of course, World War II showed that such confidence was an illusion, and President Trump’s earlier boasts that he could end the conflict within one day of taking the oath of office have proven to be just as illusory (ABC News, January 17, 2025).

History warns that these sorts of grand promises have often emboldened aggressors rather than restraining them. The West’s appeasement of Hitler’s aggression in 1938 paved the way for full occupation, and many fear Mr. Putin’s expansionist rhetoric indicates that these recent summits represent a similar miscalculation. As this war on the very doorstep of Europe surpasses 1,200 days, the potential for dramatic impact on the strategic arrangement of world powers and alliances continues to loom large. The days leading up to Jesus’ return will see a radical upending of the status quo, including the rise of Europe and the utter decline of American power. For insight into this prophesied turn of events, you can read or listen to The Beast of Revelation: Myth, Metaphor, or Soon-Coming Reality?