Latest update January 8th, 2025 2:00 AM
A DISASTROUS SUMMIT
After months of complimenting each other via the media, Presidents Trump and Putin met for their first ever summit in Helsinki, Finland, to repair US-Russia relations and to discuss among other issues nuclear arms control, the civil war in Syria, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its interference in U.S. presidential elections in 2016. Neither of the leaders expected any major breakthrough at the summit other than an agreement to continue diplomatic relations. Several international experts believed that the summit would benefit the Russian leader more than President Trump. Both leaders went into the closed door summit with low expectations, which had both U.S. allies in Europe and U.S. politicians at home worried about what Mr. Trump might do or say that may harm the U.S. or what concession he may or may not make to President Putin.
The summit was always going to be a political risk for Trump whose election victory has been marred by several indictments, including 12 Russian military intelligence agents, by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is still investigating Trump’s accomplices for possible collusion with Russia. But for Putin, the summit is a geopolitical win, because it shows that the U.S. recognizes Russia as a great power whose interests must be acknowledged. It also signaled to Putin that efforts by the West to isolate Russia have failed. The belief by the Trump administration that the U.S. badly needed a rapprochement with Russia turned into a disaster at the press conference after the summit between Trump and Putin. President Trump’s remarks led to a barrage of criticism in the US, by Republicans and Democrats, after he defended Russia over claims of interference in the 2016 elections.
It was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in recent memory when Trump contradicted U.S intelligence agencies by saying that Russia had no reason to meddle in the U.S. presidential elections. He blamed poor relations with Russia by the Obama administration rather than condemn the deceptive actions of the Russians.He took Putin’s denial at face value that Russia had no incentive whatsoever to interfere in the American election system despite the unanimous conclusion in 2017 by U.S intelligence agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the House Intelligence Committee that Russia was behind an effort to tip the scale of the U.S election against Hillary Clinton, with a state-authorized campaign of cyber-attacks and fake news stories planted on social media. Many members of the Senate and the House of Representatives from both sides of the aisle asserted that President Trump missed the opportunity to reprimand President Putin in public.
It seems as though President Trump was deliberately deluding himself at the press conference into believing that by accepting Putin’s explanation, that American-Russian relations would magically morph into a new special and cordial relationship. After all, these are the two countries with over 13,000 nuclear weapons or 90 percent of the world’s nuclear stockpile between them, but they often find themselves at odds on several international issues. However, following his return to Washington, amidst the overwhelming criticism for siding with the Russian leader, Trump was forced to backtrack on his remark, asserting that he has always had great confidence in the U.S. intelligence and that the Russians had interfered in U.S. elections. Trump’s silly comments about Russian meddling in the election have had an adverse impact on his nation. His actions seemed to have undermined the U.S. instead of putting America first. It has caused Republicans and Democrats – who do not agree on much – to stand shoulder-to-shoulder and signal their intentions to impose sanctions against the Russian government for its long list of international violations. The last time sanctions legislation against Russia was debated in the U.S. Congress, it passed the Senate 98-2 and the House 419-3.
Trump is quickly realising that in today’s political climate, cooperating with the Russians on anything is regarded at best a waste of time and, at worst, an act of betrayal.
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