Friday’s talks between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir
Putin went quite well, according to all reports from those familiar with
the meeting. The Kremlin reported that the talks centered on future talks on stability and disarmament, along with improving trade relations.
Meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, there was an
enormous amount to be discussed between Trump and Putin. The US and
Russia have had increasingly worsening tensions for years, and very
limited diplomatic engagements.
Not everything could be tackled in a single meeting, but both sides seemed to agree on the most important of matters,
that they will do everything possible to avoid another arms race.
That’s an important agreement, as both sides have been talking up such a
risk, centered on the US withdrawing from the Intermediate Nuclear
Forces (INF) Treaty.
By itself that’s not bad for an 80 minute meeting. Other issues were
apparently discussed, including the matter of Ukraine. US officials have
so far not indicated a lot of the details from their perspective.
Since Trump was loathe to talk about what would be discussed, beyond a
White House report that Iran, Syria, and Venezuela were also brought up,
most US media outlets are centering on Trump telling Putin “don’t meddle in the election, president,” in front of reporters, which they saw as unduly lighthearted.
Whose fault is the lack of progress in arms control?
Until we see actual new agreements ratified by both parties, again, mostly a PR moment and thus utterly irrelevant.
Putin can’t trust Trump and especially the US Congress and he knows it. What good is a deal if Trump can unilaterally abrogate the JCPOA with Iran?
Unfortunately, I cannot see any of this moving beyond words. With Trump getting cornered from all sides, war is getting more realistic by the day, Trump will lose elections, and Democrats will win. Their candidates are already talking “Russia” as the biggest enemy. It is clear that this is getting nowhere. Russia and China are getting ready for war. They cannot ignore such large quantities of threats — and not be prepared. Hi
What is already happening is a race to re-arm – like the 1930s – not a new arms race. The words and smiles suggest Munich 1938 or the German-USSR non-aggression pact. The US and Russia will fail to avoid world war if their core interests clash, and they do.
https://www.ghostsofhistory.wordpress.com/
Unless Trump and Russia agreed to avoid an arms race. If it’s like in Syria where Trump ordered withdrawal and in the end nothing happened, then in this case the momentum will also remain the same.
Did they also agree to deescalate tensions or is that considered an entirely different matter?
Humanity told to “endeavor to persevere “