An America First Approach to U.S. National Security—this is the title of the latest publication of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), released in May 2024. Zoltán Koskovics, geopolitical analyst for the Budapest-based think tank Center for Fundamental Rights has published a review of it on the website of the Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet.
Mr Koskovics starts by pointing out that the AFPI was founded in 2021, with the stated goal of providing Former President Donald Trump with ‘legal, intellectual, and technical groundwork’ in case he were to return to the White House in 2025. He then points out one of the main theses of the book, which is
‘It is in the interest of Kyiv, Washington, and the world that a ceasefire is made, and peace talks commence with Russia.’
As Mr Koskovics points out, this is right in line with the essence of the foreign policy approach of Hungary’s conservative government towards the Russo–Ukrainian war. In fact, the ruling Fidesz party has used the slogan ‘Nekünk Magyarország az első’, a close to direct translation of the ‘America First’ slogan, evidently put into a Hungarian context. The ‘America First’ slogan was first used by Republican candidate President Warren G Harding in the 1920 election, in reference to his objections to the United States joining the League of Nations, proposed by then-incumbent President Woodrow Wilson.
The chapter dedicated to the Ukraine war in the new AFPI book was penned by retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg and national security expert and author Frederick H. Fleitz, two ‘determined American patriots,’ as the Center’s Mr Koskovics describes them in his piece.
Lt Gen Kellogg and Fleitz place much of the blame for the Russian invasion of Ukraine on President Biden.
They feel that he looked anything but firm and decisive in early 2022, when the invasion took place. Had the Washington leadership shown more of those traits, it could have deterred President Putin of Russia from launching the invasion. Also, once the war did break out, the Biden administration was not willing to make reasonable compromises to negotiate an early peace, leading to the war ongoing to this day.
‘Biden has been driven by liberal, woke elite fanaticism rather than rationality’ since the start of the war,
the two security experts write.
They also go on to state that a major escalation in the war can happen suddenly, and armed fighting can begin in new theatres of the war without much of an indication prior; and believe that peace negotiations should start now, as the front lines are still static.
‘Today, we are still dancing on the brink of a new world war, and we await with deep concern the outcome of the NATO summit in Washington, even in the light of the Alliance’s acceptance and written declaration of our country’s [Hungary’s] non-participation in any operation in Ukraine. However, it is clear that there is another America which, if returned to the White House under Donald Trump, could well bring peace,’ Mr Koskovics concludes in his review.
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