When Steve Witkoff, America's self-proclaimed "negotiator," showed up parroting Moscow's talking points ("Donetsk is in Russia's constitution"), he exposed himself as the only diplomat foolish enough to repeat an adversary's propaganda on camera. No serious nation would blunder this way. Zelensky's response was surgical: "If I add two Russian regions to Ukraine's Constitution, will they leave?" It said what needed saying. While Kyiv wages this war with razor-sharp focus, this amateur dealmaker from Washington waltzed into rooms across from Kremlin veterans: Lavrov, Patrushev, masters of the long game. Seemingly unaware he was outmatched before the first handshake. Negotiating Russia isn't a genteel debate. It's a minefield. And anyone who stumbles into it unprepared doesn't just humiliate themselves but their own country and they become useful idiots for the Kremlin.