Putin is looking to play Trump for a fool — again — at the Alaska summit

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-putin-summit-russia-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-rcna224593

Posted by msnbc

10 comments

  1. From Rajan Menon, professor emeritus of International Relations:

    President Donald Trump’s team, which has been scrambling amidst Alaska’s tourist season to find a venue for his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has succeeded. The two leaders will meet at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, just north of Anchorage. The Americans apparently tried to persuade the Russians to allow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to participate in some fashion, but Putin’s “nyet” proved unyielding.

    Zelenskyy worries that Trump and Putin will do a deal over his head and present Ukraine with a fait accompli. He’s not wrong to be concerned, given Trump’s well-documented affinity for Putin. Trump has insisted that Putin wouldn’t have invaded Ukraine had he been in the White House in 2022. In January, Putin echoed this claim, blaming the war on the 2020 election, which he, like Trump, falsely asserted was “stolen.” Trump also promised, on dozens of occasionsin 2023 and 2024, to end the Ukraine war in 24 hours if re-elected.

    But as Putin’s invasion of Ukraine began, Trump called it “genius.” Once back in office, in February he and Vice President JD Vance publicly humiliated Zelenskyy during a now-infamous White House meeting. In April, Trump even blamed Zelenskyy for provoking Russia’s invasion and also chided him for not accepting Russia’s annexation of Crimea, a move that Trump claimed would have cleared the way for a political brokered by him.

    Read more: [https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-putin-summit-russia-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-rcna224593](https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-putin-summit-russia-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-rcna224593) 

  2. Looking to play him? We will, without question. Putin is a former KGB spy. Trump dodged service with fake shin splints. As much as I can’t stand the two, I doubt Putin is leaving empty-handed.

    Edit: spelling

  3. Slightly off topic, who proposed Alaska as the venue? Was it American side or Russian?

  4. Of course he is.

    This is an absolute gift for Putin.

    It gives him legitimacy, a voice on back on the international stage, and makes him look like he’s the one trying to push for peace. At the very best he could agree to some kind of deal he knows Ukraine will refuse that Trump will then use as an excuse to withdraw all US support for Ukraine.

    This whole meeting is a terrible idea.

    Only up shot for Trump is it’s going to stop the media talking about Epstein for a few days.

  7. Putins not playing Trump, he’s a willing participant

  8. Well, I’m hoping for something good to come out of it, maybe if nothing else, a second meeting. With Zelensky probably hosted in Minsk or maybe it’s Istanbul

  9. People in here really have TDS and not looking at this objectively. The moment the EU & US didn’t put boots on the ground in support of Ukraine, Russia was going to take most, if not all, of Ukraine. This isn’t about Putin looking to play Trump as a fool, this is about the US not really caring what Russia does with Ukraine. If the EU *really* cared, they would have done all this military build-up 4 years ago before Biden gave Ukraine a blank check.

    Stop with the rhetoric that Trump is bad and doesn’t know what he is doing and blah blah blah, it’s making the lot of you sound like children. Geopolitics goes beyond just one leader.

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