New York Times: Russia Presses Trump for White House Meeting With Putin
MOSCOW — Russia sought to move beyond last week’s diplomatic confrontation with the West on Monday by pressing President Trump for a White House meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin that would undercut the perception that the angry reaction to the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain has left it isolated from the international community.
The Kremlin foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said in Moscow that Mr. Trump, in a telephone call with Mr. Putin on March 20, proposed that the two leaders meet at the White House in the near future. Mr. Ushakov made clear that the Russian leader would like to take him up on the suggestion. “This is a rather positive idea,” he said.
Mr. Trump mentioned to reporters on the day of the phone call that he expected to “be seeing President Putin in the not-too-distant future,” and the White House confirmed on Monday that it was among “a number of potential venues” discussed. But the phone call came before last week’s tit-for-tat mass diplomatic expulsions sparked by the nerve agent attack on Sergei V. Skripal, a former Russian spy living in Britain.
It is not clear whether such a meeting is still viable, and both sides issued vague or even conflicting statements on Monday. Within hours of Mr. Ushakov’s comment, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, discounted it, saying the president’s adviser was not correct.
In her own statement, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, confirmed that a White House meeting was discussed but played down the prospect, saying, “We have nothing further to add at this time.”
Read more ....
WNU editor: Apparently the idea of a meeting/summit was floated by President Trump in a March 20 phone call .... but nothing came out of it. As to today's announcement of a possible meeting .... according to Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov after he had made it he stated the following .... there are currently no preparations for a meeting between Putin and Trump. A few hours after his statement, Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov came out and completed discounted the idea of a summit between the two leaders. It looks like the Kremlin's foreign policy adviser got ahead of himself .... made an announcement that he should not have made. Bottom line .... there are no meetings planned or even a preparation for one between President Trump and Russian President Putin.
As for the future .... my prediction is that there will be a meting between the two leaders .... probably after this year's U.S Congressional elections, and it will be Russian President Putin visiting the White House.
More News On Today's Reports Of a Possible Trump - Putin Summit
Russia, feeling diplomatic heat, trumpets possible White House summit -- L.A. Times
White House confirms Trump, Putin discussed Washington summit -- CNN
Trump Used Call With Putin to Float Idea of White House Visit -- Wall Street Journal
Trump suggested meeting with Putin in Washington, DC -- RT
Kremlin aide: Washington summit with Putin was Trump’s idea -- TASS
"It looks like the Kremlin's foreign policy advisor got ahead of himself." I would tend to agree. I actually suspected this. My first thought "why would the Russians even want to do this right now?" As such, it seems I should have known no meeting is being planned.
ReplyDeleteKnowing that constructive dialogue between us and Russia is in our national interests I may have allowed that to cloud my judgement when analyzing this situation. I hope the meeting does happen eventually.
B. Poster,
ReplyDeleteApparently both men talk a lot on the phone. It is only natural that they will be seeing each other sometime in the future. But before such a meeting happens .... the conditions have to be right .... and they are definitely not right now.
Also .... President Trump does have a habit of inviting world leaders to come to the White House. Case in point .... he invited the Philippine President last year .... which raised a lot of eyebrows because of Rodrigo Duterte's violent anti-drug campaign.
Trump invited putin and said nothing about it and Russia told America media about it
ReplyDeleteClever?
Postman seems only to comment when Russian interest involved
Fred,
ReplyDeleteActually the media did report on March 20 President Trumps's remarks that he will be meeting Russian President Putin soon .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ2XuUPWBBQ
Thanks
ReplyDeleteFred,
ReplyDeleteI do remember something about a potential meeting being reported by the media. The editor has confirmed that this was the case. Frankly I don't care which party reports this first. To worry about such things seems rather petty. Such a meeting is clearly in the national interests of the United States. The sooner it happens the better. With that said the editor is correct with the current optics doing this is problematic right now.
I'd be surprised if the Russians would even be interested right now. If I were in the Russian leadership which I am not as I am an American and this is where my loyalties are, I would not be interested in meeting with an American POTUS right now.
Editor,
I think it does seem as though the men do communicate regularly on the phone. With modern technology things like face to face summits may not be as necessary as they once were. As long as the two leaders are communicating and they respect one another, there is hope for progress. Whether we like it or not Russia possesses the ability to harm us in ways no other country can and we are going to need their assistance in a number of areas in the coming years. As such, it behooves us and the "west" to make reasonable efforts to work constructively with them.
All our intel advised Trump NOT to congratulate Putin. He did.Any meeting is really a summit of sorts, and that takes a lot of planning in advance.
ReplyDeleteGiven the heat Trump feels now from Mueller et al, seems a dumb thing to have Putin here till the Mueller things is completed, one way or the other...Too, I note our Pentagon advises we stay in Syria and Trump claims we will withdraw...Nice to know what our policy is
Fred,
ReplyDelete"All of our intel advised Trump to NOT congratulate Putin. He did." We've been over this. US intel does not have a very good track record. Remember 911, remember Iraq, and I actually could go on. Suffice it to say we have been extremely blessed that these incompetent boobs and political hacks have not caused us more harm than they already have.
When we are not privy to all of the inner workings as we are not here, we must sometimes make judgment calls. While I could be in error, I will take the judgment of DJT over these people any second of the day. DJT is looking at a much bigger picture and is trying to negotiate an end to Cold War 2 which is firmly in our interests while trying to get the best deal for us he can. He does not have time to allow petty disputes to get in the way that sap our resources and inflame tensions making hot war more likely. I will reiterate such a war is one we might not be able to win.
I think both men would agree that due to the political situation in America and the "west" now is likely not the best time to have such a meeting. Fortunately I think they can accomplish most of what they need to accomplish via phone calls and the use of other modern technologies.
"Too, I note that our Pentagon advises we stay in Syria and Trump claims we will withdraw...Nice to know what our policy is." Getting in Syria was a bad idea from the start. I patiently warned against this back in 2011. It's nice to see that DJT, at least in words, is looking to set this right. As I understand it, military officers are supposed to follow the orders of civilian leaders. In this case, that would be the Commander in Chief.
Hopefully POTUS will follow through on the withdrawal from Syria. If the Pentagon doesn't go along, then it may be time to fire some four and five star generals and promote some new ones. Already General McMaster got shown the door. I once had a great deal of respect for these people. Now the jury is still out on them. Personally a few of them should be fired, busted back to private effective as of the day they joined the military, made to retire at the pay of a private when they started, and made to pay back all of their pay as a higher ranking officer. We can start with general Barry McCaffery.
There was col I believe who described the situation in Poland as follows to paraphrase, "do you want a permanent military presence in Poland or would you rather use these resources to build much needed infrastructure projects in America?" This military officer show promise as perhaps grasping what is in America's interests and how resources should be allocated. He show promise and perhaps should be promoted. Essentially the Pentagon needs to get behind the policy of POTUS or get out of the way.
Getting out of Syria is the correct policy. Will DJT carry it out. We shall see. He does seem to have trouble at times standing up to the generals. With that said generals seem to want to serve on his team.
Sorry about the spelling and grammar being atrocious. A I have explained, my eyesight is poor and I am often in a hurry when posting here. I will try and do better in the future.
ReplyDelete