Are we sure we want to know what went on in Anchorage last Friday? Yes, I know, President Trump met with Vladimir Putin, and no agreement on anything was reached. And we also know that pundits are trying to figure out what, if any, progress may have been made towards securing a just and lasting peace in Ukraine. But I am wrestling with the optics of what we saw. There’s a story there, and it is an ugly one.
I tuned into news coverage of the meeting at about 2:00 p.m. or so, figuring that how the two heads of state greeted each other could signal whether some sort of agreement would be reached when the meeting began. My hopes for a successful meeting evaporated when I saw how orchestrated “the arrival” was.
Putin apparently insisted that any meeting with Trump take place on American soil. That, some say, was a victory in itself for Putin, who is a convicted war criminal (The World Court) and is persona non grata in countries other than North Korea, China, and a few others. But Putin wanted more. After Trump’s 747 arrived (the Qatari one is still undergoing renovation, and awaits a paint job and serious upgrades), Trump was left waiting in it for a half hour until Putin’s jet arrived.
That must have angered the volatile Mr. Trump. F-bombs must have been flying.
Once Putin’s plane finally arrived, Trump awkwardly descended the steps from his plane onto a red carpet leading to a podium. A similar red carpet was provided for Putin. I would describe it as blood red, but that may be taking things too far.
Trump attempted to time his walk towards Putin so that they would meet at the podium at the same time. Trump is apparently a poor judge at figuring out how fast to walk. He took a number of baby steps and then started to zig-zag from one side of the red carpet to the other. He looked ridiculous.
Eventually, the two heads of state met. Some have criticized how Trump shook Putin’s hand, but other than to consider it awkward, I’m not sure what the problem was. Personally speaking, I would not have shaken Putin’s hand given the number of deaths for which he is responsible.
As the two leaders met, Trump had arranged a fly-over of a B-2 stealth bomber flanked with four F-35 stealth fighters. Call this a little one-upmanship by our Commander-in-Chief. To reiterate his point—that America is better armed than Russia—a few F-22 fighters were parked nearby.
Military experts have commented that it might not have been the greatest idea to give the Russian staff accompanying Putin an opportunity for a close look at the F-22, but maybe there were no new insights to be gathered. Personally speaking, I would have forgone both the fly-over and displaying F-22s.
Once the pair got to the meeting site, there were signs reading “Pursuing Peace” prominently displayed. These were nice signs, but Putin is not pursuing peace. That is why the one outcome of the meeting that was figured out quickly was that Trump is no longer demanding an immediate ceasefire as a prelude to peace negotiations.
The two leaders spoke for three hours, but when they held what was billed as a press conference afterwards, no details of what they talked about were shared. Putin gave a short lecture on the history of Russia, including a reference to the fact that Alaska was once part of Russia. As Putin spoke, Trump looked alternatively angry and disturbed.
Once Putin shut-up, Trump recited a few pleasantries before the pair of “world leaders” left the stage. No questions were answered.
Did Putin humiliate Trump at the meeting? I would not go that far. What I would say is that America was disadvantaged by having a negotiator who has little respect for foreign policy experts. Trump has yet to learn that the types of negotiations he did as a New York real estate developer don’t work when negotiating with former KGB officers.
So, where are we? The war in Ukraine goes on. Putin, best I can tell, has not made any concessions other than to say that he will end the war when all his demands are met. More Ukrainians—and Russians—will die. If there is a “light at the end of the tunnel,” I don’t see it yet.
Do I blame Trump for the war continuing? No. I blame Putin. (But I disagree with the claim that the war is “Biden’s war” and choked when Putin expressed agreement with Trump’s claim that the war would never have started had Trump been president.)
Monday: An Intervention or Progress Towards Peace?
Much to my surprise, Friday’s debacle in Anchorage was followed by another, more serious meeting on Monday. This meeting offered hope, but unfortunately, not the expectation that the war would end soon.
I watched the string of black Chevrolet Suburbans pull up to the South Portico of the White House Monday as more than a half dozen European Leaders arrived to support Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his meeting with Donald Trump. My theory is that the various heads of state, Secretary General of NATO, and the President of the European Union were there for two reasons—to prevent Donald Trump from inflicting another round of humiliation and abuse on Zelenskyy and, more importantly, to host an intervention with Donald Trump.
Intervention? Think about the interventions taken to rescue alcoholics from destroying their own and other lives. In Monday’s case, the goal was to stop Trump from acting as Putin’s agent in the “negotiations” to end the war in Ukraine. The intervention was prompted by Trump’s sudden reversal on the question of whether a ceasefire must precede the start of peace negotiations and Trump’s advocacy for Ukraine to surrender territory to Russia in exchange for an end to the war.
The Europeans were successful in saving Zelenskyy from more abuse, at least more abuse of the public, televised kind. Unfortunately, Trump continues to push Putin’s criminal agenda.
There will be no ceasefire this week. And as the discussions in Washington were taking place, Putin’s military continued its destruction of Ukraine. Every new inch of territory won by Putin before a peace agreement is reached (if it is ever reached) makes the Russian Empire a little bigger.
Trump remains in full appeasement mode, ala Neville Chamberlain. That is one reason a video (who knows if it is real?) was posted on the web of a Russian military vehicle racing down a Ukrainian road with both Russian and American flags waving from it.
Putin has a friend in Trump and that should trouble us all.
All that having been said, everyone that I have spoken to, hopes that despite (or because) of Trump, the war will eventually end. My problem with giving Putin his entire wish list is that in short order he will develop a new one that could include annexing Estonia, parts or all of Poland, and the rest of Ukraine.
J.E. Dean writes on politics, government but, too frequently, on President Trump. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack. Dean fondly remembers his last trip to Kyiv, taken before Vladimir Putin’s ongoing campaign to obliterate it.
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