The Trump-Putin summit in Alaska on August 15, which hogged global headlines, is done and dusted. Trump’s delegation included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in addition to Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff accompanying Trump. US officials travelling separately to attend the Alaska summit included US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, by Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, supreme allied commander for US forces in Europe and the head of US European command, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. In his first visit to the US since 2015 and as the first Russian leader to visit Alaska in 150 years (Russian Czar Alexander II having sold Alaska to the US in 1867), Putin was accompanied by his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, a former diplomat and key government advisor, in addition to some others.
Enroute to Alaska aboard Air Force One, Trump said he wanted to see a ceasefire in Ukraine “today”. He further said, “I noticed he (Putin) is bringing a lot of business people from Russia. And that’s good, I like that, because they want to do business, but they’re not doing business until we get the war settled.” Where Putin’s delegation included business people, it is more than apparent that this was proposed by Trump’s emissary Steve Witkoff when he met Putin in Moscow to set up the Alaska meeting.
The Alaska summit would not have been required, if the US would have let the Russia-Ukraine peace deal arrived at in Istanbul in April 2023; within three months of Russia launching special operations in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, which Putin said was to "protect the people" of the Russian-controlled breakaway republics. Was allowed to go through. Notably, Ukraine would not have lost any more territory with the Moscow-Kyiv peace deal of April 2022. But Washington’s pooch Boris Johnson, then UK’s prime minister, scuttled this proposal because US-NATO waging war on Russia, using Ukraine as the proxy, believed Russia could be defeated, dismembered and regime change affected with Putin assassinated or otherwise; with NATO-Nazi battlegroups fully embedded in Ukraine (https://news4masses.com/nato-nazi-battle-groups-in-ukraine/). That’s why since 2022, the US alone appropriated USD 175 billion in direct aid and financial support to address the ongoing conflict and related regional security efforts, with about USD 128 billion of that going as direct support to Ukraine, according to the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.
The genocide and war crimes of the Volodymyr Zelensky-led Ukrainian forces on Ukraine’s own population (tied to poles and left to die whoever refused to take up arms) and against Russian forces was horrendous – few photos of which are inset. But the US ignoring all this, got the UN to blame Russia for genocide in Bucha on unproved charges and dropping Russia from the UNHRC, as well as the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue a warrant to arrest Putin.
But Trump had to roll out a red carpet for Putin in Alaska, in acknowledgement that Russia is winning. To Trump’s signal of deploying two nuclear submarines before the Alaska summit, Russia said it has more potent and longer-range nuclear missiles. Today the situation is that Russia controls about one-fifth of Ukraine (20% territory), which includes part of territory signed between the US and Ukraine in the recent mineral deal. whereas Ukraine is in ruins with millions killed – courtesy Zelensky. There is speculation that Putin agreed to the summit because the Russian economy is getting affected by the prolonged war, But the US economy is also going downhill because of Trump’s tariff terrorism – the brunt of which will be borne by US citizens. Besides, Trump has given an unprecedented boost to BRICS and its alternate currency. Even India, which was committed to the US dollar earlier this year, has now decided to dump it and grant full INR access to BRICS (https://watcher.guru/news/india-ditches-usd-sends-circular-to-brics-granting-full-rupee-access).
The almost three-hour long Trump-Putin summit in Alaska was held behind a blue banner boldly displaying “Pursuing Peace”. Putin said he has reached an agreement with Trump, hoping Kyiv “won’t throw a wrench” into the process of bringing the war to an end. He further said that the security of Ukraine must be ensured, and Russia was ready to do so, but the root cause of the war must be taken into account as well. Putin and Trump addressed a press briefing from the same venue, reading out statements, without taking any questions. Earlier, a reporter (obviously planted) questioned Putin about civilians killed in Ukraine. Putin naturally did not respond because western media makes no mention of targeted civilian killings in Russia and Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine. Both Moscow and Kyiv deny targeting civilians in the war but thousands of civilians have died in the conflict.
Trump said, “I believe we had a very productive meeting. We really made some great progress (without revealing any details). There were many, many points that we agreed on. There’s no deal until there’s a deal. I will call up NATO... I’ll of course call up president Zelensky and tell him about today’s meeting. …. we have a very good chance of getting there, we didn’t get there but we have a very good chance of getting there.” Putin did mention that the discussion did include collaboration in the areas of technology and space, and how that can be achieved. Asked about trade with Russia earlier, Trump’s response was, “I don’t know anything about trade with Russia.” Though details of the summit remain hazy, it is questionable whether the summit achieved anything to substantively alter the course of the Ukraine war. Speaking with Fox News, Trump said he would give his summit with Putin “a 10”.
In his presidential campaign, Trump had said he would end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours. But having assumed the presidency on January 25, he sought the first meeting with Putin some seven months later – on August 15. On August 11, Trump said in a press conference, “I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelenskyy was saying, ‘Well, I have to get constitutional approval. I mean, he’s got approval to go into war, kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap because there'll be some land swapping going on.” Putin has suggested the next Trump-Putin meet in Moscow, while Trump has said he is leaving progressing the ceasefire to Zelensky. It is the same Zelensky, about whom Trump wrote earlier: “Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelensky, talked the US into spending USD 350 billion, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the US and Trump, will never be able to settle …” (https://www.thestrategicperspective.org/the-high-heeled-coot/). But the problem is that Zelensky has served as the geopolitical prostitute for the West since he was installed as the president in Kyiv and he knows a ceasefire-cum-peace deal means the end of his dictatorship. Moreover, he is inexorably wedded to America’s deep state with the bulk of the money poured into Ukraine siphoned back to the US. In addition, he has the support of the neo-Nazis/Nazis in NATO and Europe courtesy the mingling of blood due to German occupations in bothy World Wars and induction of Nazis at the end of World War II facilitated by the US (https://news4masses.com/white-taliban-organization-wto/), plus Trump’s grandfather having migrated from Germany to the US.
Anyone who thought the Alaska Summit would contribute anything concrete towards a ceasefire in Ukraine was sadly mistaken. Don’t think Trump wanted that in the first place himself. The summit does help him earn additional brownie points for the Nobel Peace Prize he so desperately wants. He was perhaps also deputed to gauge whether trade with Russia will be more beneficial after a peace deal or would continuing the war suit America’s interests better. It is beyond doubt that peace cannot come in Ukraine if Zelensky is allowed to continue as the president in Kyiv. It remains ambiguous whether Trump genuinely wants a ceasefire and peace to prevail in Ukraine, if the deep state doesn’t want it and it would limit NATO’s employment. There is speculation that if Trump pushes too much for peace, he may be bumped off like John F Kennedy; and it is the scare of assassination that is making him take control of metropolitan police forces. Peace in Ukraine may be a distant dream.
Take aways from Trump and Putin meet in Alaska.
1. Trump was looking unprepared whereas Putin was fully prepared. Their respective body languages gave this impression.
2. Normally host nation leads the talk, here Trump allowed Putin to lead. Bad photo ops and poor diplomacy.
3. On this platform Putin succeeded in putting across to the world the genesis of the problem and how Russia was silently being bottled up by growth of NATO members and Russia's security jeopardized.
4. On the other hand Trump had no valid points to offer against Putins. Nothing worth while came out after this hyped meeting. Putin has offered the next meeting to be held in Moscow. If Trump accepts he would be loser both ways,reason if Trump refuses to go to Moscow Putin will say West not serious to negotiate, if Trump goes he will make a bigger ass of himself at Moscow, not being on home ground he would fumble more.
5. It appears from the above, Trump has further exposed his weakness in diplomacy and statesmanship which he does not possess. His staff/ advisors can do little because he speaks off the cuff.
Trump went into the Alaska summit threatening “severe consequences” if Putin rejected a ceasefire. He emerged without an accord, yet struck an upbeat tone about improving U.S.-Russia relations, calling Russia incredibly rich in natural resources and spanning 11 time zones.
The meeting was a step toward world peace and a bid to peel Russia away from China so the two giants do not cement an unholy alliance against the U.S.
In an ironic twist, Trump has now shifted the burden of ending the Ukraine war onto Zelensky and Europe, although neither of which appears eager to negotiate peace.
The author is an Indian Army officer. Views expressed are personal.
