Preparations for Putin-Trump summit underway

The Wall Street Journal reported on June 1st, that the White House is making plans for a potential summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Such a meeting would bring one of the world’s most enigmatic relationships to front and center.

According to the Journal:

A senior administration official said Friday that Jon Huntsman, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, has been in Washington to help arrange a meeting between Messrs. Trump and Putin.

The planning is still at an early stage, the official said, with the two nations needing to agree on a date and location.

‘This has been an ongoing project of Ambassador Huntsman, stretching back months, of getting a formal meeting between Putin and Trump,’ the official said.

It would seem that the American President has decided that that RussiaGate controversy has become (rightfully) irrelevant enough to move forward with this plan. Still, the news was released late Friday evening, New York time, and will probably not be a huge piece in the American national media for some time.

Given the propensity of the Deep State to try to interfere with this meeting, this low-key announcement may be rather wise.

President Trump has been criticized by many politicians in both parties for being too cordial with Vladimir Putin, as Mr. Putin has been characterized as anything from a "KGB agent – always” to a "thug” and a "dictator.” Much of this comes from a rather strongly enforced level of ignorance that Americans have in regards to Russia and its present form of government, which is a Parliamentary constitutional government, not unlike many in Europe.

That this level of ignorance is perpetuated among those in high levels of the American government is surprising, as one might expect that world leaders would actually be more solidly in touch with reality about one another.

President Trump appears to see this, as he has gone on record several times to note that relations with the Russian Federation ought to be good, and that the two countries really need one another:

Mr. Trump has long said he wanted to improve relations with Russia, while at the same time bemoaning the poor state of Russian-U.S. ties.

As president-elect in January 2017, he made clear he wanted a cordial relationship with Mr. Putin. "If Putin likes Donald Trump, I consider that an asset, not a liability, because we have a horrible relationship with Russia,” Mr. Trump said at a news conference.

Three months ago, after he spoke to Mr. Putin on the phone and congratulated him on his election victory, Mr. Trump tweeted that "Getting along with Russia (and others) is a good thing, not a bad thing…”

The following month, though, he wrote in a tweet that "our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War.”

He added: "There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy.” He went on to suggest that a more collaborative relationship with Russia could curb the arms race.

However, parallel to this effort to cement better ties with Moscow, Mr. Trump has been dogged by the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race. This investigation has been in progress for something like 16 months, though some official references note that investigative work actually began almost two years ago, while President Trump’s campaign was still in progress.

Much of the findings thus far have pointed to a high-level conspiracy among the leadership of the Democrat Party, Hillary Clinton and her operatives, but the investigation continues in a manner that is reflective of the embedded "Deep State” and its desire to remove Mr. Trump from office, having failed to prevent his election.

The RussiaGate "investigation” and the intense efforts by the United States Congress and media establishments to cast Russia and President Putin in a bad light have resulted in the worst diplomatic relationship since the Cold War, and maybe even worse than most of that period.

As this debacle continued, President Trump quietly continued to take advantage of any moment to communicate with President Putin, such as sending intel on a planned terrorist attack in St. Petersburg.

There have also been attempts by Mr. Trump to leave the Syrian theatre and turn this over to the Russian Federation entirely, only to be interfered with by an allegedly, but strongly suspected, staged "chemical weapons” attack in Ghouta. The majority of reports from the region have both shown that no such attack took place, but was intended to draw the USA deeper into the conflict.

The following response, a coordinated air and missile strike in Syria by forces from the US, Great Britain and France was later reported to have struck only a few empty buildings, causing zero loss of life.  While the OPCW investigation into the use of chemical weapons is still ongoing, reports from the ground consistently describe the event as a staged attack, with no chemical weapons involved whatever.

In all this, President Trump has had to do at least some political maneuvering, presumably because of the media and political pressure brought on by the Deep State. However, this report of a hoped-for summit may be a sign that the US President has decided that "enough is enough.”

As the group of supporters of the President adapt to the fact that the attacks from the Deep State will not stop, ever during the course of Mr. Trump’s presidency, they have gradually asserted their place as policy makers and policy drivers.

This appears to be an encouraging development. Bolstered also by the progress of the United States and North Korea as Kim Jong-un seeks a summit with President Trump, it may be that the time has come to move on this most important foreign policy matter.

The history of relations between the United States and Russia were historically very close, disrupted by the advent of Communism and the Cold War following WWII. In taking an honest view of modern-day Russia, President Trump appears to see "outside the box” of the prevailing American political establishment. In that, he appears to be following through with why his supporters elected him.

One may expect further attempts to block and interfere with this process, but if the history of this president is any proof, indications are that in some way or another, the US president will push past the resistance of his own government and hopefully, foster a new era of relations between the United States and the Russian Federation.

Such a change cannot come soon enough.

theduran.com