What Putin's ‘Rasputin-like mystical influence' over Trump means for the world

Sydney Morning Herald

5 hours ago

When Donald Trump cancelled his meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese this week and left the G7 Summit early, it became clear the billionaire businessman's second presidency was facing a key test.
As the Situation Room debated the critical question of the United States' direct involvement in the rapidly escalating Israel-Iran conflict, an unlikely candidate for mediation emerged: Russian President Vladimir Putin. Speaking with Chris Paine on The Morning Edition podcast, our international and political editor Peter Hartcher delves into Putin's 'Rasputin-like mystical influence' over Trump, and what it means for foreign policy.
Click the player or watch the video below to listen to the full episode, or read on for an edited extract of the conversation.
Paine: So the big question then is, what is America, and specifically, Donald Trump's role in all of this? As we record this in the middle of the day, Wednesday Australian time, the US has not been involved in any strikes thus far. What is Trump saying? He's long sworn himself against wars like this. He's also touted himself as 'The Peacemaker'. What kind of test is this for Trump? What will he do?
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Hartcher: It's a huge test for Trump. Until Thursday last week, he was presiding over negotiations with the Iranians to try to get them to cease and desist from their nuclear program, and telling Netanyahu that he did not want an Israeli attack right up until the hour before the attack occurred ... This is a war he didn't want. And as you say, Chris, he sees himself as a peacemaker. He's made no secret that he wants to get a Nobel Peace Prize. He promised to end the war between Ukraine and Russia within 24 hours. Four and a bit months later, that's raging and has escalated. He promised to fix the Gaza war. No dice. And now, while he's trying to come to a nuclear arrangement with Iran, a new war has broken out there as well. So that's three strikes and you're out. So his peacemaker credentials are looking pretty tatty.
Now, what's he going to do with this war under way? He's got conflicting political demands in his own constituency, the MAGA, Republican, national security constituencies in the US. He's got the restrainers and the prioritisers. And that's a big chunk of the MAGA movement, the MAGA policy, military impulse. Their thinking is the US should just simply keep out of the Middle East altogether, 'It used to be important. We used to need the oil. We don't now, let it go, let it rip. Let the Israelis tear the Iranians to pieces, and the Iranians do what they can.'
Hartcher: Then you've got the internationalists and the traditional Republicans who say: 'No, this is a critical area of the world. We must protect Israel. We must protect our oil access, and we must do what we can to limit the power of the Iranian regime, but without causing a major world war.'