Trump’s Russia play isn’t about Ukraine, it's about China

The headlines say the Alaska summit between President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin was about Ukraine. Commentators in Brussels and Washington rehearse the familiar debates: Was Trump too soft on Moscow? Did he undermine Kyiv?But that framing misses the bigger picture.The Trump administration has already set the terms of the 21st-century contest: The United States faces its greatest long-term threat not from Russia, but from China. From sweeping sanctions on Beijing’s access to advanced AI chips, to trading U.S. security guarantees for alignment in the Middle East and Indo-Pacific, Trump has