>>513103891
HOW PUTIN TRICKED TRUMP
>The Alaska summit has been designed to play to the U.S. president’s pro-Russian impulses.
>Rather than bow to an American ultimatum, Putin has instead engineered a trap, one in which Trump will walk into later this week. For Putin, the Alaska summit—which notably will exclude Zelensky, almost certainly at Russia’s insistence—is tailor-made to enable Russia to continue evading sanctions and tariffs, while also ending Trump’s more sympathetic approach to Ukraine once and for all.
>An hourslong discussion, during which Putin can reinforce Trump’s misreading of the war’s origins, is likely to leave Trump more impervious than ever to the Ukrainian and European claim that Russia, and Russia alone, is responsible for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Almost as if to preview what we can expect later this week, Trump again suggested on Monday—falsely—that Ukraine chose to start the war.
Putin may be able to put forward his own point of view and that can't be allowed to happen.
>Putin almost certainly calculates that the summit is an opportune moment to flip the script, portraying the Kremlin as the sensible party engaged in a constructive process while Ukraine, in his telling, stands in the way of peace. It didn’t take long for that cynical bet to pay off—shortly after news of the summit emerged, Zelensky said, “Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.” It was the kind of statement that, while principled and morally sound, led Trump and U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance earlier this year to accuse Zelensky of standing in the way of peace.
>Trump has professed to have an open mind heading into the summit, calling it a “feel-out meeting.” The challenge, however, is that the meeting itself will provide Putin with a structural advantage, just as he devised it to do. Putin’s engagement in face-to-face diplomacy and his presentation of a concrete offer, while one-sided and unjust, could well be enough for Trump.
https://archive.md/IUd1J