Trump Hails Good Start with Putin: Hold the Cheers
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)
Following one-on-one summit talks lasting over two hours, Trump and Putin put a positive spin on them as expected.
Anything less would have been shocking and then some. Going into summit talks, neither leader intended to rain on the other’s parade. Not a chance!
Before talks began, Trump said Washington and Moscow will eventually have an “extraordinary relationship,” adding:
“(T)he world wants to see us get along” - an unattainable goal as long as bipartisan hardliners in Washington oppose improved relations.
Despite Trump’s earlier announcement about US troops leaving Syria “very soon,” neocon national security advisor John Bolton on Sunday said they’re staying “as long as the Iranian menace continues throughout the Middle East.”
No Islamic Republic menace exists. Israel and America’s presence constitute the main threat to regional peace and stability.
Washington has thousands of combat troops illegally occupying northeast and southwest Syrian territory. As long as the country remains free from US control, they’ll almost surely remain.
They’ll also stay in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East, part of Washington’s longstanding imperial policy, wanting dominion over the region and all other parts of the world not its own - naked aggression its favored strategy to achieve its goals.
Public posturing by Putin and Trump post-summit belies reality Russia’s leader understands and Trump by now should as well.
Washington considers Moscow its main adversary. Monday summits talks and what follows won’t change a thing - other than creating false perceptions.
Putin understands despite saying talks with Trump moved towards “clearing the backlog” of troublesome issues adversely affecting bilateral relations, adding:
“(N)umerous problems persist, and we have failed to clear the backlog in full. It was impossible to do this, but I believe we have made the first important step in that direction.”
What sounds good in public posturing doesn’t reflect reality. Putin saying talks with Trump “were held in a frank, business-live atmosphere I view…as successful and useful” is commonplace diplomatic boilerplate belying the most dismal bilateral relations in memory.
Saying “(t)he Cold War is a thing of the past” ignored raging Cold War 2.0 - more fraught with danger than earlier with the Soviet Union.
It doesn’t matter how much Putin and likely Trump prefer rapprochement over confrontational relations.
What dark forces in America want alone matters, including neocons infesting Congress and the Trump regime, along with the US military/industrial/security media complex wanting adversarial relations, not improved ones.
Trump saying “(o)ur relationship has never been worse than it is now” clearly reflects reality. Adding “that changed as of about four hours ago” was pure rubbish and deception.
Nothing changed other than both leaders finally meeting face-to-face for summit talks that should have been held much sooner.
Obama’s treacherous Russophobic CIA director/Russiagate inventor John Brennan disgracefully tweeted in response to Putin/Trump talks:
“Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of ‘high crimes & misdemeanors.’ “
“It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin.”
Brennan is in the pocket of Satan - along with a whole lot of others in Washington!
About the only credible comment by the militantly Russophobic NYT, shortly after summit talks and the Putin/Trump news conference ended was saying:
“The two leaders vowed to improve relations between their countries, but offered no specific areas where they could agree.”
The Times failed to explain that the US military/industrial/security media complex prevents improved relations.
That’s the hard reality countless hours of Putin/Trump talks can’t overcome.
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My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
