No negotiating with communists

OPINION:

Some have suggested that to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should attempt to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This would never work.

My father was a career officer in military intelligence, and as such familiar with the hopeless task of trying to negotiate with the communists. He said, “You can’t negotiate with the communists because, in any attempt, their attitude is, ‘What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is negotiable.’”

To the end of time, the Russians will continue “negotiating” until they get exactly what they want, and they will yield only what they never wanted anyway. Making Mr. Zelenskyy negotiate with Mr. Putin would be asking him to jab a pointed stick into Ukraine’s eye.

PHILIP MORRIS
Burke, Virginia