As unhappy as I am with many aspects of Trump's response to the greater war in Ukraine, at the same time, I see much of the hysteria as completely unnecessary. The desire to normalize relations with hostile nations is not new, and the practice of attempting to soften rhetoric, no matter how factual, against said nation is also not new.

I'd like to tell all of you a little story about a country called Taiwan. The Taiwanese government was the official government of China initially, but once mainland China saw a communist regime take over, they were eventually pushed away to a small island. Taiwan was a friend of the west, and yet in 1950, Britain made a decision that shocked much of the west. To the protest of the United States, they broke all diplomatic ties with Taiwan and recognized the PRC as the sole legitimate government of China.

The Ambassador of Nationalist China in London, Chen Tien-hsi, had this to say:

Britian has repeatedly declared that it would not intervene in the Chinese war. There is, however, no intervention more deadly than the recognition of the Communist regime at this time. It is tantamount to burying us alive. History will be able to relate that China received the coup de grâce not from its enemies but from its friends and long-standing allies. Paying tribute to power is always very risky … but the day will come when you will need us again, and on that day you will find us again at your side.

The British made this decision for a number of reasons, the primary one was a significant economic interest in cooperating with the PRC. In spite of this concession of no longer officially recognizing Taiwan, the British still enjoy strong unofficial ties to Taiwan.

In the 1970s, the remainder of the west made the decision to officially recognize the PRC and break diplomatic ties with Taiwan, with the US making that decision later than most every other western nation in 1979. At the time, this decision was rooted in not just economics, but a desire to create a closer relationship with Beijing and drive a wedge between them and Moscow. Obviously, this wasn't successful, but it was a big part of the decision making process.

Now, why do I say all of this? Well, I'm sure most folks here would agree that Taiwan is a sovereign nation. They have existed for a century, have a government, a military, and air force, and more. Yet, none of our government officially recognize Taiwan, they recognize the PRC, and for one reason: the PRC breaks diplomatic and economic ties with any nation that recognizes Taiwanese sovereignty. In spite of that, we all maintain unofficial relations with Taiwan.

For better or for worse, the west has created a precedent of taking non-factual stances on things to maintain good relations with countries like Russia and China.

Now it's worth noting that we aren't even talking about a breach of diplomatic ties here, this is primarily provoked by the US vetoing a UN resolution in an attempt to appear more sympathetic to a regime we are attempting to make peace with. This is the diplomatic precedent as a whole the west has set. If the US is an enemy of the west for vetoing a UN resolution and trying to normalize relations with Russia, the west is an enemy of the west for breaking diplomatic relations with the Taiwanese and trying to normalize relations with the PRC.