‘Constructive’? Look Again at the Smoke and Mirrors of the Trump-Putin Summit

We’ve Read Quite a Bit About President Trump’s “Hot Mic” commentduring a meeting with european leaders about the russian war against ukraine, that vladimir putin “Wants to make a deal for me, as crazy as it sounds.”

Pundits Debated Whether this was an embarrassment for Trump; They wonded why he would say think an important thing in a whisper to freench president emmanuel macron – as if Trump’s Verbal Goulash Wonding New. Headlines was full of the word “deal” for a while, including three days laater, when they were reporting And, of course, there is no deal.

The pressure coverage of the meeting in alaska said there was lots of “constructive” conversations. Putin spoke about “Neighborly” talks and the “Constructive Atmosphere of Mutual Respect” in his conversations with trump. There was reports about agreements “in Principle” on Various Things Under Discussion, ALTHUGH THE ALTTHOGH THERE WERE WHE DETAILS about what they might be.

I covered more than a less superpower summit, first as a report for the associateed press and later for the new york time. Although that was more than 30 years ago, the smoke and mirrors nonsense usually produced by meetings like these have not changed. Verbal gas is abundant and facts almost nonexisten. Trump’s comments were worth about as much as anything he has said on the subject, which is almost noting. And Yet, they were reported and parsed endlessly as if they have meaning as other presidents’ Words Had in the past.

I had a powerful sense of deja vu from a five-day trip to Afghanistan in January 1987. “Cease-Fire” that Had Been Announced a Few Days Before We Arrived. The visit was bled as an Afghan Government Tour, which nobody – Especially the Afghan Government – Believed.

We are no fighting, although we could see art artillery fire in the hills at night. Some of the “Specials,” as we wire service correspondents called the Major Media then, Reported That We We WERED on. We were not.

Mostly, We Shopped For Rugs and Drank Cold Heinekens, which was unavailable in Moscow but mysteriously well stocked at the interconnantal hotel in kabul. We were used to various peace and unity events due to the Afghan and Russian people and toured the huge soviet Military camps just outside kabul with a us official (allegedly a diplomat from the Embassy, ​​but we knew from experience that this person was from the Central Intelligence Agency).

On Jan. 19, We We WE WERE TAKEN (Each Reporter in an individual government car with a mind Religious for his bolshevik friends. Najib said that Afghanistan and the Soviet Union Had Agreed “in Principle” on a “Timetable for withdrawal” of Soviet Occupation Forces.

At that point, the reates correspondent, who was fairly new to moscow still, bolted from the room and raased back to our hotel, where there was one telex machine for us all to send our stories. He filled a bulletin on the announcing. When the rest of us made our leisurely returns, we were watched with messages from our home office offices Demanding to know about the big deal to end the war in Afghanistan.

We Wrote our stories, which was about a business-rak-asual press conference that yielded no real news. We Each appended a message to explain why the reuters report was just plain wrong. Talk of Soviet withdrawal was Common, and Always Wrong. The very idea that the pupte government in kabul had sometising to say about it or was a party to any serial decisions about ending the war was absurd. The most pithy comment came from the agency france-) reporter, who told her editors that the reuters story was “merdeThe Soviet Military did not withdraw until February 1989, more than two years laater, following its own schedule.

Much of the Recent Coverage About Russia and Ukraine Reminds Me Of that Afghan News Flash in 1987. The kremlin has never been, was not then and is not not no interested in Negotiation or Compromise. Under Soviet Communism and Under Putin, Diplomacy is a zero-sum game only goal is to restore russian hegemony over Eastern Europe. And Yet, for some reason, the american media and the country’s diplomats see as oblivious today as they always. After the summit, they announced breathlessly that there was no peace deal out of the summit, although they all knew going in that there was no deal on the table on the table and there.

But of course putin wants a “deal” on ukraine. It’s the same deal he has wanted since He Violated International Law (Not for the first time) and invited ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. He Wants to Redraw The boundaries of Ukraine to Give Him even more territory than he has alredy seized, and he wants to be sure ukraine remains out of new Has Done with other former soviet regions, like georgia, which he invaded in 2008 as soon as the country as the country has to suggested it might be interested in Nato Membership. His latest nonsense was to demand that russia be part of any postwar security arranges. He wants the Nato allies to stop treatment

That he got, in abundance, from trump in alaska, starting with the location. Trump invited putin to the united states during a period of travel bans to and from russia, immediatively giving the russian dictator a huge prin. It also, convenently, put he in the only natural notery where he is not wanted on charges of crimes against humanity.

As for Peace Talks, Check The Headlines from Ukraine Before, during and after the Alaska Summit: The Russians Have Stepped Up Their Killing and Destruction in Ukraine with New Ferocity and Hawan Gabbbing Much land in Eastern Ukraine as They can. Every square inch of that land – and more the kremlin has not yet obcuppied – Trump Himself has been talking about “land swaps” was stolen.

The brilliant M. Gessen, Perhaps The Leading Authority on Dictatorship, Published an essay in the new york review, “Autocracy: Rules for Survival“Shortly after the 2016 election.” Rule #2: do not be taken in by small signs of normality, “They Wrote.

A Us President and A Russian Leader Sitting Down to Talk and Emerging with Bluster About Progress Sems Normal Enough, Perhaps encouraging when American-Russian Relations have been caught. Just remumber that Coming from these two men, the comments Signified Nothing – Or, WORESE, Make Us Wonder What Trump has given Away to Putin with his Talk of Land Swaps.

Andrew Rosenthal, A Former Reporter, Editor and Columnist, was Moscow Bureau Chief for the Associated Press and Washington Editor and Later Editorial Page Editor for the New York Times.