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Summary
The first Trump-Putin summit, with Trump both inexperienced and under severe pressure at home, was never going to be an easy summit. However it is striking that Russian diplomacy still managed to use this unpromising summit to make progress – however tentative and limited – on three important issues [Syria, Ukraine and Cybersecurity, see details further up in the article - CE] in a way that works towards achieving Russia’s objectives.
The agreements made, though very limited in scope, are still from the Russian point of view useful, whilst the Russians seem to have taken care to pitch their proposals to be within the range of what President Trump could agree to.
As for President Trump, he is to be commended for having accepted these proposals so quickly and so readily. Doing so was as much in the US’s interests as in Russia’s interests.
This is how diplomacy is done. Putin and the Russians in Hamburg gave Trump a class in how to do it, and he came out well, far better in my opinion than Barack Obama ever did. That holds promise for the future.
In all respects this was a far better summit than the US-Chinese summit at Mar-a-Lago, which the Chinese sought too early, and which the inexperienced Trump was unsure how to host.
For the rest, it seems that Trump and Putin genuinely got on with each other.
The most important fact about the summit as I said previously was that it went on for so long. Usually when a meeting goes over time in this way it is either because there is a row or because those involved discover that they have a lot to talk about and are able to say it to each other.
This summit was clearly of the second sort. It seems that Melania tried at one point to hurry the two men along, but they preferred to go on talking to each other even if that meant delaying later meetings.
Not surprisingly Trump has referred to the meeting as “tremendous“. Putin as is his way was more analytical and more detailed
As regards personal relations, I believe that they have been established. This is how I see it: Mr Trump’s television image is very different from the real person; he is a very down to earth and direct person, and he has an absolutely adequate attitude towards the person he is talking with; he analyses things pretty fast and answers the questions he is asked or new ones that arise in the course of the discussion. So I think that if we build our relations in the vein of our yesterday’s meeting, there are good reasons to believe that we will be able to revive, at least partially, the level of interaction that we need.
(bold italics added)
Coming from Putin – the most experienced leader in the world today and an acknowledged master of diplomacy who is known for saying it as it is – the highlighted words are high praise.
In summary this was a genuinely successful summit, producing more of substance than most people expected, and promising well for the future.
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