Trump still buys Putin's picture of innocence
It was the portrait that said it all. Inspiring and flattering as Putin intended, President Trump received in March a painting of himself as a gift from the Russian leader. It was a 'beautiful portrait', said Steve Witkoff, Trump's envoy, who dutifully brought it back from Moscow. The president was 'clearly touched by it'.
In commissioning and sending such a gift, Putin showed he appreciated both the opportunity and the delicacy of the moment. Ever the KGB operative, he has been trained to find the weakness of an interlocutor and play on it. The agents he used to run in East Germany would each have had a weakness, which he would exploit in developing his hold over them. Some would need cash, some cigarettes, or
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