Iran’s Imams thought they could string Donald Trump along by participating in fake third-party negotiations regarding their nuclear program. Trump gave them enough string to hang themselves; then, the B-2s showed up. Now, their nuclear program is a group of smoking holes in the ground. The clear message to Vladimir Putin should be, “You’re next!” Putin also needs a “B-2 moment.” I am not advocating a U.S. bombing of Russia, but President Trump needs to find and implement some form of leverage that will bring Putin seriously to the bargaining table. (RELATED: On Iran, Trump Made the Only Decision Possible)

Trump has been remarkably patient with Putin, hoping that the development of a personal relationship would develop into trust. It is now obvious that there is no trust in Vladimir Putin. He is doing the same thing to us that the North Vietnamese did to two successive U.S. administrations between the mid-1960s and 1973. Putin is playing rope-a-dope, laying down successive preconditions for negotiations while buying time to double down on military action. (RELATED: Trump Has Putin Where He Wants Him)

So far, the threat of American economic sanctions has had about the same effect on Putin that America’s ineffectual Rolling Thunder bombing campaign had on Hanoi during the Indo–China War. Like the North Vietnamese, Putin has calculated how much economic pain he can endure. It was not until Nixon and Kissinger began conducting serious bombing and mining campaigns against key North Vietnamese infrastructure that Hanoi seriously came to the bargaining table. (RELATED: Security Guarantees and Peace in Ukraine)

In these pages, I have suggested several potential actions that Mr. Trump could take to cause Putin to seriously consider negotiations. These should be immediate, concrete actions rather than threats tied to deadlines. First, we should consider the immediate delivery of more top-of-the-line anti-air and anti-drone systems to Kyiv to counter Russian missile and drone strikes. This would include parts of the experimental Golden Dome air defense system. (RELATED: The Art of the Deal, Russia–Ukraine Style)

This would give us the added value of testing emerging systems in combat situations.

Second, we should remove any restrictions on the use of long-range missile and artillery systems inside Russia. Every drone or missile strike against Kyiv or other Ukrainian cities should be countered by two on Moscow, Volgograd, or other Russian urban areas, and the Ukrainians should be provided with enough systems to implement the policy.

No doubt, this will antagonize Mr. Putin, but it would convince him beyond the shadow of a doubt that it is a bad idea to play fast and loose with Mr. Trump. The one thing that Putin does not want is a “Forever War” that the Russian people see no end to, and that threat is exactly what the measures mentioned above are designed to present him with and present the kind of situation that will get him to agree to a no-conditions ceasefire and a serious trip to the bargaining table. If he agrees, the arms shipments will be suspended. Prevaricate or fail to act in good faith, and they resume.

Putin may be delusional in thinking that he can return Russia to the superpower status that it enjoyed as the leader of the old Soviet Union, but he is enough of a student of history to understand what happens to Russian leaders when they get into attritional Forever Wars. The Russo–Japanese War caused a revolution that nearly toppled Czar Nicholas II. Teddy Roosevelt got him out of that jam by negotiating a peace treaty with Tokyo. However, no one could help the Czar in 1917 when the stalemate of World War I destroyed his regime and eventually killed him and his family.

So far, Putin has sustained the war by cleaning out the prisons and using North Korean soldiers for cannon fodder, but that approach is not going to work indefinitely. He will eventually have to extend conscription into the general population to continue the war. (RELATED: North Korea Is in the Fight)

To date, the general Russian public has not felt the pain that the Ukrainian civilians have experienced. The Ukrainians have generally limited strikes inside Russia itself to military targets and some military-industrial facilities, while the Russians have been indiscriminate in their targeting. (RELATED: New York Times Commits Sin of Honesty)

In 1905 and 1917, the soldiers who were cannon fodder and their families saw no light at the end of the tunnel. Bringing the war home to Ivan Six Pack in the most vivid terms will make Moscow’s propaganda much harder to swallow. That is Putin’s nightmare scenario. It is hard to sustain a Forever War for years for the ethereal ideal of a greater Russia when your home is burning and your sons are dying.

I would not want to be in the room when Donald Trump finally decides that he has had it with Vladimir Putin, but I do hope the suggestions in this piece are on the table when the president decides to do something about it.

READ MORE from Gary Anderson:

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Gary Anderson served as a special advisor to the deputy secretary of defense and recently retired as a professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, lecturing in alternative analysis (Red Teaming).