Like one recent contributor, I have written (in my head) many articles every day, but it has been hard to know what would contribute to something that someone else has not weighed in on.

Guantanamo Bay. When I heard the plan to relocate “illegal aliens” there, the first thing I thought was: That is where a previous administration decided that torture is not torture if you call it something else. Anyone transferred there will be unprotected and subject to any kind of abuse, including American citizens who may be swept up by a mistake. And we know from the last term that record-keeping is atrocious. How many children separated from their parents have never been found?

Regarding the president/dictator’s “peace negotiations” to stop the war in Ukraine, which Ukraine did not start, I considered the word “negotiate,” which implies that each participant in a conflict has something of value to offer in exchange to something else of value from the other side.

Since the United States doesn’t own or control anything in Ukraine, and no authority to make any kind of deal, I reached the conclusion that what the U.S. has to offer is stopping support for Ukraine and lifting sanctions on Russia, especially on oil (which will soon be flowing at rates great enough to insulate the U.S. from needing to import oil) and allow Russia to boost its failing economy.

If Mr. Trump then bullies Ukraine into accepting the deal they might have made two years ago, before all the infrastructure destruction, then he will take credit for stopping a very devastating war.

Russia officially recognized Ukraine as a sovereign nation since the establishment of the United Nations, when it had a vote along with all the other so-called sovereign countries in the former Soviet Union — until Ukraine elected a pro-western president.

The U.S. used to stand for principle and territorial integrity, until now, when our dictator wants to take over Gaza, Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal (It will be better for them! like moving the Cherokee nation to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears, before oil was discovered there), and he is not only ignoring laws here, but international treaties signed and ratified by the Senate. The 1938 Munich Agreement signed by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain comes to mind.

Meanwhile, support for Israel continues unabated, enabling that country to continue its military domination of the West Bank, allowing settlers (squatters on land they are occupying illegally, many of them for decades) to terrorize the inhabitants, steal more land, and kill them in numbers far in excess of any Israelis who have been killed by Palestinians. Clearly, the Palestinian people have nothing of value to Mr. Trump. Except Gaza.

I was particularly struck by the interview Mr. Trump gave regarding his offer to relocate the Palestinians and make Gaza “the Riviera of the Middle East.” He did not say the United States would own Gaza, he said the U.S. will own Gaza. Not paid for by him, of course.

Meanwhile, alienating all our former allies and causing confusion and uncertainty for everybody (except maybe Russia, in his secret “negotiations”) reminds me of what Frodo said to Gollum in the Lord of the Rings after Gollum attacked him, was subdued, and then promised to be good: “There is no promise that you can make that I can trust.” Who would be willing to sign any agreement with Mr. Trump?

Judith Truesdell lives in Greenfield.