After the splash of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, U.S. President Donald Trump is now ready for another step in his disruptive diplomacy, a one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump has never hidden his desire to improve relations with Russia. Indeed it has been central to his foreign policy goals, provoking deep opposition within the U.S. institutions which has forced him to zigzag between demonstrations of toughness and diplomatic overtures in his first year and a half in office. Thus despite insisting on the need to work with Russia on various issues, he has also approved new sanctions in connection with the 2016 elections, and twice bombed Syria due to presumed chemical weapons attacks, with harsh words regarding Russian support for Bashar al-Assad.
In recent years, the most common view in the West has been that Vladimir Putin is a strongman who rules Russia with an iron fist, eliminating any democratic opposition while aiming to rebuild the Russian Empire in opposition to liberal democracies. A significant portion of the population and the business community in Europe isn’t convinced by this “enemy image” – or in any case is ready to give Putin the benefit of the doubt in the name of pragmatic deal-making – but in the U.S., questioning the dominant narrative of Putin presented by the media often brings accusations of being a traitor to the country.
Not surprisingly, inside Russia the view of Vladimir Putin is a bit different.
Read the article at Aspenia online
July 15, 2018
English, Notizie, Politica