The two presidents agreed to meet again.
How many Russian oligarchs came with Putin? They didn’t give him a jet.
A ceasefire would cost Russia whatever advantage it thinks it has in Ukraine. In stating he is not interested in losing ground and retreating from Donbas however subtly, the stalemate continues. Putin’s politics demands he unite all the Russian speaking people. It isn’t workable unless he can return to an era of benevolence and common economic interests with the Free World.
Trump is probably hoping to talk NATO down because of the massive loss of life. Trump must be disappointed. The summit was not prepared in a way that maps guarantees of protected sovereignty for all parties.
See, to NATO and Ukraine this is not about politics. It is about national security. Putin defines national security as “Russian speaking people.” That is not a defensible argument. Russian speaking people have no borders. That vague definition only allows for more hostilities in the future.
Ceasefire, at this point, is about any military advantage that can be gained by Russia. Putin seems to believe a ceasefire is not advantageous. A ceasefire is suppose to illustrate a path forward to peace, not simple a military strategy.
With the loss of life to date and Putin walking away from the opportunity to stem those deaths, he does not place human lives in a place of priority. Saving further losses of Russian speaking people is not as important as the communist political agenda.
I sincerely believe this meeting was to incentivize Trump to leave the NATO alliance. With an agenda that ambitious by Putin there is no chance for productive diplomacy. If Trump sincerely wants a ceasefire leading to peace he needs to have clear goals and guarantees for all parties.
One can only hope Vladimir Putin is more than nostalgic of past benevolence between the USA and Russia. Perhaps that can be leveraged into peace. It has a chance.
Said differently. Putin came to leverage Trump against NATO. The nostalgia was to propagandize a sentiment that would play well on Truth Social providing Trump with a reason to abandon the friends and allies we have as he is brazen enough to do. Idealize a new world order where communists are stronger and better allies than the world we have now. See, in such a world order NATO is a weakling. An undesirable ally with less muscle than all the strongman dictators.
It is propaganda without substance.
I take it the New Start Treaty was not entertained.
