Early Thoughts on the Trump-Putin Meeting

As a historian of the Cold War, I have a passing knowledge of a number of meetings between Soviet/Russian leaders and U.S. presidents. Some are famous for getting relations off on the wrong foot (e.g. Kennedy and Khrushchev atVienna in 1961); others set the stage for great breakthroughs, but were seen as failures at the time (e.g. Reagan and Gorbachev at Reykjavik in 1986); still others are largely forgotten (e.g. Johnson and Kosygin atGlassboro, NJ in 1967). It is impossible to predict how we will remember the first substantive meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.We can see, however, what President Trump wants us to remember.  “I think we have great opportunities together as two countries that, frankly,…have not been getting along very well for the last number of years,”Trump said at the opening of the meeting in Helsinki. “I think we will end up having an extraordinary relationship.” President Trump has long said, going back to his campaign, that it is important to have good relations with Russia. I agree. I ’ve never seen meetings between American leaders and senior government officials and their foreign counterparts as a “reward” for good or bad behavior. It’s called diplomacy. If this first meeting does set a tone for cooperation between the two countries, historians might eventually judge i t worthwhile.Unfortunately, the context surrounding this meeting is not conducive to long-term success. Credible evidence of Russian interference in ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs