Leon Panetta: “No. We're not scrapping that. Our intent is obviously to continue working on that.”

What Trump is trying to do in order to convince Putin to come to the table is not going to work if Putin senses weakness on the part of the United States.

But the facts speak for themselves.

Autocrats that once operated in their own spheres of influence have now joined together in an axis of mutual support and aggression.

Mr. Trump has always prided himself on being a dealmaker, pledging in his campaign that he would resolve such conflicts in the first few days of his presidency.