“Russia is a very big power and [Ukraine is] not,” President Donald Trump said after his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, justifying a proposal that would compel Ukraine to surrender its territory. It’s a sentiment grounded in cold realpolitik—the idea that might makes right, and that smaller nations must yield to greater powers when compelled by force.

Yet, as Trump discusses peace proposals with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky alongside European and NATO leaders, it’s essential to remember that this worldview neither tells the whole story nor should it shape the outcome of any Ukraine-Russia peace negotiations.

Realism has long dominated the worldview of American foreign policy thinkers, shaping the instincts of leaders like Trump and his closest advisors. According to this school of thought, nations act solely in their own interest, based on power calculations, rather than ideology. Democracy or dictatorship, rich or poor, all countries are presumed to behave the same under the pressures of geopolitics. In this view, Mexico or Russia, North Korea or Luxembourg are merely pieces on the same chessboard, judged by capability alone.

What realism leaves out—fatally, in my view—is any space for moral responsibility, soft power, or values. The very things that have made America great—its moral leadership, its commitment to democratic principles, and its ability to inspire allies around the globe—are rendered irrelevant by realism’s sterile calculus.

I know this not just from academic theory or current events, but from personal experience.

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