I could not shake this song while watching Trump and Putin meet in Alaska.
Perhaps because it was also about two old friends reconnecting. But only if you ignored everything else about it. Because this was all about power, not friendship.
Putin arrived to a red carpet rolled out to his aircraft door. After years as an international pariah, he was back on American soil, and Trump applauded him as he descended the steps. Russian television had its propaganda victory before the talks even started.
Trump needed a win. His campaign promise to end the war “within 24 hours” had stretched to seven months. A ceasefire, even a temporary one, would have given him something to sell.
Putin needed only the meeting itself.
The asymmetry was complete before they shook hands. One man desperate for a deal, the other happy just to be there. Guess who was in a better negotiating position?
On one side sat a former KGB officer who built his career manipulating people. Putin also brought Sergei Lavrov, his foreign minister since 2004 and as unscrupulous as he is experienced.
And on the other side? Trump brought Steve Witkoff, his real estate associate turned special envoy. The same Witkoff who, after one of his meetings with Putin in the Kremlin, told the media that Putin “prayed for his friend” Trump and brought a Trump portrait back from Moscow.
Trump then let Putin ride alone with him in the Beast, the US President’s car. Just the two of them, no aides, no translators, what could possibly go wrong? The Secret Service will probably be checking that car for listening devices for months.
Planning documents left in a hotel printer completed the farce. These included seating charts for a lunch “in honour of His Excellency” and phonetic guides for pronouncing Putin’s name. Incidentally, that lunch got cancelled at the last minute.
The almost three hours of talks produced exactly what Moscow wanted: nothing. No ceasefire, no framework, no commitments.
The “media conference” afterwards was even more telling. Putin went first and dominated, speaking at length about his version of history and the “root causes” of the war. Trump? About three minutes of vague optimism and his well-known claims about the ‘Russia hoax’. No questions allowed.
Anyone who has watched Trump at press conferences knows this is not him. He normally dominates these events and spars with reporters for hours. But in Anchorage, he looked like Putin’s guest. Putin achieved what few others have managed: he made Trump look weak.
You could see in Trump’s body language that this was not the triumph he had envisioned. In diplomatic terms, it was a total failure. In propaganda terms, it was a total Russian victory.
But the real damage came in what happened next.
Before Anchorage, the US and Europe had a clear position: ceasefire first, then talks. Trump even threatened severe sanctions if Putin did not halt his military campaign. The sequence mattered here. A ceasefire would freeze current lines and maintain sanctions pressure.
Yet after Anchorage, Trump adopted Putin’s language entirely. He no longer wants a ceasefire but a “peace deal”. That sure sounds nicer, doesn’t it? Except in Putin’s world, a “peace deal” means Ukrainian surrender. This means that Ukraine cedes lost territories, the US lifts sanctions, and Russia’s status is normalised. In short, Putin keeps what he stole and gets rewarded for it.
This kind of “peace” would be a Russian victory and a Ukrainian surrender. Trump is either unable or unwilling to see the difference.
Either way, the pressure shifted straight after the meeting. Where Trump had previously made public demands of Putin, they now pressure Ukrainian President Zelensky to “make a deal”. In Trump’s language, Putin no longer features as the aggressor but, well, as what? A mediator, perhaps?
Panicked by so much American-Russian agreement, European leaders issued their usual statements about Ukraine’s territorial integrity and so on. However, none of this changed the fact that the Europeans were not involved in the talks; they were just informed afterwards.
It was all a bit like Yalta, where great powers were carving up smaller nations’ futures. Except at least Yalta, Roosevelt and Churchill believed they were saving the world.
By Trump accepting Putin’s demands (especially a Ukrainian withdrawal from Donbas and abandoning NATO aspirations) without extracting even a temporary ceasefire, the US signalled that borders seized by force are negotiable.
This is a big shift. The post-1945 order rested on the principle that aggression must never pay. Anchorage suggested it might.
And so, Putin got everything he came for: rehabilitation on the global stage. The red carpet, the ride in the Beast, the “reasonable statesman” imagery. This was the man who invaded a neighbour, yet here he was, treated as an equal, or even a long-lost friend.
Every autocrat watching will have learned the same lesson: hold out long enough, and the West will accommodate you.
Anchorage thus revealed three brutal truths. First, Trump can be played to the point of being humiliated on home soil.
Second, Europe’s irrelevance is complete. The Europeans were not even consulted, let alone included, in decisions about their continent’s security. They are now scrambling to play a role again when they will meet with Trump in Washington.
Third, the post-1945 order can be undone by a handshake and a photo opportunity.
We are all anchored down in Anchorage now. We are watching great powers trade away principles while small nations calculate their survival odds. That is the new world disorder now.
The tragedy is not that Trump was outmanoeuvred; any observer could have predicted that. The tragedy is that the West bet European security on a real estate developer charming a KGB officer.
Putin knew how that bet would end. And didn’t we all?
Dr Oliver Hartwich is the Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative think tank. This article was first published HERE.
Putin arrived to a red carpet rolled out to his aircraft door. After years as an international pariah, he was back on American soil, and Trump applauded him as he descended the steps. Russian television had its propaganda victory before the talks even started.
Trump needed a win. His campaign promise to end the war “within 24 hours” had stretched to seven months. A ceasefire, even a temporary one, would have given him something to sell.
Putin needed only the meeting itself.
The asymmetry was complete before they shook hands. One man desperate for a deal, the other happy just to be there. Guess who was in a better negotiating position?
On one side sat a former KGB officer who built his career manipulating people. Putin also brought Sergei Lavrov, his foreign minister since 2004 and as unscrupulous as he is experienced.
And on the other side? Trump brought Steve Witkoff, his real estate associate turned special envoy. The same Witkoff who, after one of his meetings with Putin in the Kremlin, told the media that Putin “prayed for his friend” Trump and brought a Trump portrait back from Moscow.
Trump then let Putin ride alone with him in the Beast, the US President’s car. Just the two of them, no aides, no translators, what could possibly go wrong? The Secret Service will probably be checking that car for listening devices for months.
Planning documents left in a hotel printer completed the farce. These included seating charts for a lunch “in honour of His Excellency” and phonetic guides for pronouncing Putin’s name. Incidentally, that lunch got cancelled at the last minute.
The almost three hours of talks produced exactly what Moscow wanted: nothing. No ceasefire, no framework, no commitments.
The “media conference” afterwards was even more telling. Putin went first and dominated, speaking at length about his version of history and the “root causes” of the war. Trump? About three minutes of vague optimism and his well-known claims about the ‘Russia hoax’. No questions allowed.
Anyone who has watched Trump at press conferences knows this is not him. He normally dominates these events and spars with reporters for hours. But in Anchorage, he looked like Putin’s guest. Putin achieved what few others have managed: he made Trump look weak.
You could see in Trump’s body language that this was not the triumph he had envisioned. In diplomatic terms, it was a total failure. In propaganda terms, it was a total Russian victory.
But the real damage came in what happened next.
Before Anchorage, the US and Europe had a clear position: ceasefire first, then talks. Trump even threatened severe sanctions if Putin did not halt his military campaign. The sequence mattered here. A ceasefire would freeze current lines and maintain sanctions pressure.
Yet after Anchorage, Trump adopted Putin’s language entirely. He no longer wants a ceasefire but a “peace deal”. That sure sounds nicer, doesn’t it? Except in Putin’s world, a “peace deal” means Ukrainian surrender. This means that Ukraine cedes lost territories, the US lifts sanctions, and Russia’s status is normalised. In short, Putin keeps what he stole and gets rewarded for it.
This kind of “peace” would be a Russian victory and a Ukrainian surrender. Trump is either unable or unwilling to see the difference.
Either way, the pressure shifted straight after the meeting. Where Trump had previously made public demands of Putin, they now pressure Ukrainian President Zelensky to “make a deal”. In Trump’s language, Putin no longer features as the aggressor but, well, as what? A mediator, perhaps?
Panicked by so much American-Russian agreement, European leaders issued their usual statements about Ukraine’s territorial integrity and so on. However, none of this changed the fact that the Europeans were not involved in the talks; they were just informed afterwards.
It was all a bit like Yalta, where great powers were carving up smaller nations’ futures. Except at least Yalta, Roosevelt and Churchill believed they were saving the world.
By Trump accepting Putin’s demands (especially a Ukrainian withdrawal from Donbas and abandoning NATO aspirations) without extracting even a temporary ceasefire, the US signalled that borders seized by force are negotiable.
This is a big shift. The post-1945 order rested on the principle that aggression must never pay. Anchorage suggested it might.
And so, Putin got everything he came for: rehabilitation on the global stage. The red carpet, the ride in the Beast, the “reasonable statesman” imagery. This was the man who invaded a neighbour, yet here he was, treated as an equal, or even a long-lost friend.
Every autocrat watching will have learned the same lesson: hold out long enough, and the West will accommodate you.
Anchorage thus revealed three brutal truths. First, Trump can be played to the point of being humiliated on home soil.
Second, Europe’s irrelevance is complete. The Europeans were not even consulted, let alone included, in decisions about their continent’s security. They are now scrambling to play a role again when they will meet with Trump in Washington.
Third, the post-1945 order can be undone by a handshake and a photo opportunity.
We are all anchored down in Anchorage now. We are watching great powers trade away principles while small nations calculate their survival odds. That is the new world disorder now.
The tragedy is not that Trump was outmanoeuvred; any observer could have predicted that. The tragedy is that the West bet European security on a real estate developer charming a KGB officer.
Putin knew how that bet would end. And didn’t we all?
Dr Oliver Hartwich is the Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative think tank. This article was first published HERE.
1 comment:
Sums it up exactly. The POTUS charmed by a war criminal on a red carpet laid out on American soil. What a contrast to today's headline; "Trump ally says criminal investigations into Obama and Biden are imminent."
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