Donald Trump is ill-prepared to face Vladimir Putin
By Paul Koring. Published on Jul 8, 2018
Outsmarted by an adult film star, outmaneuvered by a 30-something murderous dictator, abandoned by former flunkies, and facing increasingly likely indictment or impeachment, the beleaguered President Donald Trump is ill-prepared to face Vladimir Putin, a proven — if malevolent — player on the world stage.
The pair is set to meet for a high-stakes summit next Monday in Helsinki.
The notoriously thin-skinned Trump will be at the end of a long travel week, during which he will have faced concerted pushback after hectoring unamused NATO leaders and massive anti-Trump protests in Britain.
The sometime reality show star boasts he’s great at power summitry.
Not likely.
So far Trump has proven bombastic, but incapable of delivering on grandiose boasts of successes. Crowing victory, Trump returns empty-handed leaving allies irked and adversaries gloating.
In Beijing, Trump fell for being treated like a visiting potentate and succumbed to the flattery. He gushingly told China’s communist President Xi Jinping: “My feeling toward you is an incredibly warm one.”
But the promised trade breakthrough never materialized despite Trump’s gifting Xi with a blanket exoneration: “How can you blame China for taking advantage of people that had no clue? I would’ve done same!” Trump said, blaming his predecessors.
And now that supposedly triumphal state visit is a full-blown Sino-America trade war with Trump and Xi both slapping on billions in tariffs.
Trump’s performance in his bizarrely public Singapore bromance with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was even less credible and potentially catastrophic, given Pyongyang’s arsenal of ballistic missiles tipped with nuclear warheads.
Trump heaped praise on Kim for the way he rules his impoverished pariah state but, as usual, saved the highest accolades for himself.
“If not for me,” there would be nuclear war between North Korea and the United States, Trump tweeted.
The more mundane reality is that a sitting president and supposed leader of the free world bestowed the honour of a face-to-face meeting with the blood-stained thug ruling a terrorism-sponsoring state. Then Trump caved and delivered a key concession by scrapping America’s joint military exercises with South Korea. So Kim walked away with two unearned, but valuable points from a president smitten with the notion of a Nobel Peace Prize.
To underscore Kim’s continuing contempt, U.S. intelligence and commercial satellites have confirmed ongoing construction at nuclear and ballistic missile facilities. And to rub it in, Kim refused to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week and instead heaped scorn on the Trump administration’s “gangster-like demands” that North Korea unilaterally “de-nuke.”
Instead of the history-making moment as described in Trump’s propaganda video which proclaimed: “A new story, a new beginning, one of peace. Two men, two leaders, one destiny. A story in a special moment in time,” the Singapore summit now seems a historic blunder, if not craven appeasement.
Helsinki could be far worse.
Putin, the former KGB operative who has ruled Russia since 2000 (even during Dmitry Medvedev’s nominal presidency) makes Kim look like a little-leaguer. Putin has outsmarted and outmanoeuvred previous presidents over the invasion and annexation of Crimea and the war in Georgia. And by way of skillful military backing of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, Putin eclipsed the United States in determining the outcome of the Syrian civil war and restored Russia’s role as a great power in the Middle East.
Notwithstanding Trump’s denials, Putin also undermined the legitimacy of U.S. elections with a vast, sophisticated infowar campaign. Whether there was active collusion between the Kremlin and Trump is not known, but Trump openly admires the Russian leader.
So far, the prelude to the summit is music to Kremlin ears.
Just as he did at the Canadian-hosted G7 meeting prior to leaving early for his date with Kim, Trump has been savaging allies and flattering adversaries.
“I’m gonna tell NATO: ‘You gotta start paying your bills. The United States is not gonna take care of everything,’” Trump told a cheering rally recently. Then, apparently unaware that Article 5 of the NATO treaty is a mandatory mutual defence pact, Trump publicly suggested the United States might no longer come to the defence of Germany.
“You know, Angela [Merkel], I can’t guarantee it, but we’re protecting you, and it means a lot more to you … because I don’t know how much protection we get by protecting you.”
Meanwhile Trump insists that getting along with Putin won’t be hard and that he’ll be ready for Helsinki.
Already he has hinted he might recognize Russia’s unilateral annexation of Crimea and blamed Obama for failing to stop it, not Putin for succeeding.
“President Obama lost Crimea, just so you understand,” he said.
As for bestowing legitimacy on Russia’s claim to Crimea, Trump pointed out that Putin has “spent a lot of money on rebuilding it.”
Blaming his predecessors and openly admiring America’s adversaries for seizing advantage is Trump’s standard explanation.
“You know what? Putin’s fine. He’s fine. We’re all fine. We’re people. Will I be prepared? Totally prepared. I’ve been preparing for this stuff my whole life,” Trump said.
But the stage already favours the wily and experienced Russian leader. Putin goes to Helsinki fresh from a successful hosting of the World Cup where Russia has attracted a global audience impressed by the host nation on and off the field. Putin will likely be at the final game in Moscow with a worldwide television audience the day before the summit.
Meanwhile, Trump will arrive after a hectic week of contentious talks with allies infuriated by trade skirmishes, accusations of military malingering and personal insults. He hates travelling —except to his golf courses — so combined with a week spent dodging protesters, he’s primed to be well on edge before he ever sets foot in Helsinki.
https://ipolitics.ca/2018/07/08/donald-trump-is-ill-prepared-to-face-vladimir-putin/
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