Putin and Trump both trapped in losing battles, analyst says
In a Guardian opinion piece, Rafael Behr compares Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump as authoritarian leaders unable to accept defeat in their respective wars—Ukraine and Iran. Both are surrounded by sycophants and face a reality they refuse to acknowledge, while Europe increasingly steps in to support Ukraine.
Rafael Behr, a Guardian columnist, argues that both Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump are mired in conflicts they cannot win but are unwilling to end, trapped by their own cults of infallibility. Putin's "special military operation" in Ukraine, intended to capture Kyiv within weeks, has lasted longer than World War I, costing trillions of roubles and hundreds of thousands of lives without significant territorial gains. The Kremlin's propaganda cannot hide the failures: civilians see oil refineries hit by Ukrainian drones and feel inflation. Official polls show a dip in Putin's support, though this may reflect internal regime jostling rather than genuine public opinion. Similarly, Trump's approach to Iran mirrors Putin's delusions. He ignores military reality, including the CIA's war-gaming showing that Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz with devastating economic consequences. Trump's inability to admit limits to US power—and his own—stems from a narcissistic worldview that equates national strength with personal potency. Putin, meanwhile, is stuck in a historical narrative of Russian greatness, unable to deal with Volodymyr Zelenskyy as an equal. The Trump administration's entanglement in Iran negotiations reduces focus on Ukraine, shifting the burden to European allies. Recent developments, including the defeat of Viktor Orbán in Hungarian elections, have unblocked EU aid to Kyiv. There is talk of a European-led peace initiative, and a summit in Downing Street with Zelenskyy, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and French President Emmanuel Macron hosted by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. However, the gap between what Ukraine needs and what Europe provides remains large. Behr notes that both Russian ultranationalism and the MAGA movement view Europe as decadent and weak, underestimating liberal democracy's resilience through pluralism and institutional checks. The key difference: the US still has constitutional safeguards, while Russia does not. European democracies must therefore prove their system's superiority by fully embracing Ukraine's struggle.
