Imagine
you’re
a
real
estate
developer.
Imagine
you’re
trying
to
entice
North
Korea
to
come
to
the
negotiating
table
over
its
nuclear
weapons. What
do
you
offer?
You
tell
Kim
Jung
Un
that
North
Korea
has
awesome
economic
potential
if
only
it
would
give
up
its
nukes.
Sadly,
Kim
doesn’t
think
like
a
real
estate
developer. Being
a
dictator
is
pretty
cool;
the
United
States
can’t
be
trusted
to
stay
away
if
North
Korea
gives
up
its
nukes;
the
nukes
aren’t
going
anywhere.
Imagine
you’re
trying
to
entice
Hamas
to
the
negotiating
table
in
the
Gaza
Strip. What
do
you
offer?
If
the
Palestinians
were
willing,
then
the
United
States
could
come
into
the
Gaza
Strip,
move
the
Gazans
out,
and
build
hotels
along
the
beaches. It’s
great
for
everyone! Gazans
could
live
in
nice
homes,
and
the
Strip
would
become
the
Riviera
of
the
Middle
East!
Sadly,
Hamas
doesn’t
think
like
a
real
estate
developer. The
struggle
in
the
Middle
East
is
a
centuries-long
religious
battle;
building
hotels
is
not
the
same
as
eliminating
the
Little
Satan;
one
can’t
directly
trade
money
for
peace.
Imagine
you’re
trying
to
entice
Russia
to
make
peace
in
Ukraine. What
do
you
offer?
Russia
has
great
economic
potential. If
Russia
would
agree
to
a
peace
deal,
on
pretty
favorable
terms,
the
U.S.
and
Russia
could
do
some
joint
economic
development
projects
that
would
make
the
autocrats
in
Russia,
the
Epstein
class
in
the
United
States,
and
probably
Putin
and
Trump
(although
maybe
I
repeat
myself)
much
richer. How
about
it,
Vlad?
Sadly,
Putin
doesn’t
think
like
a
real
estate
developer. The
first
East
Slavic
state,
Kievan
Rus,
constituted
the
embryonic
origins
of
Russia
during
the
9th
to
13th
centuries. Oleg
the
Wise,
among
others,
ruled
the
place. That
was
the
historical
origin
of
Russia,
and
Putin
ain’t
giving
it
up.
Folks
other
than
Trump
have
known
this
for
decades. Whatever
your
opinion
of
Henry
Kissinger,
his
1994
—
1994!
—
book, Diplomacy,
explains
that
Ukraine
was
the
cradle
of
Russian
Orthodoxy
and
that
post-Soviet
Russia
was
going
to
insist
on
maintaining
Ukraine
in
its
sphere
of
influence.
I’d
bet
the
mortgage
that
our
current
real-estate-developer-in-chief
has
never
heard
of
Kievan
Rus
or
Oleg
the
Wise,
and
he’s
probably
never
read
Kissinger
(whoever
he
was).
That’s
one
reason
why
Trump
doesn’t
understand
what’s
going
on
in
Ukraine
and
why
it’s
so
hard
to
negotiate
peace.
We
keep
offering
economic
solutions
to
problems
that
do
not
have
economic
roots,
and
we
end
up
getting
nowhere.
It
turns
out
that
a
little
knowledge
could
go
a
long
way.
Just
ask
Oleg
the
Wise.
Mark Herrmann spent
17
years
as
a
partner
at
a
leading
international
law
firm
and
later
oversaw
litigation,
compliance
and
employment
matters
at
a
large
international
company.
He
is
the
author
of The
Curmudgeon’s
Guide
to
Practicing
Law and Drug
and
Device
Product
Liability
Litigation
Strategy (affiliate
links).
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected].