'High-stakes' summit of presidential pageantry ends in no deal

RTÉ News​

2 days ago

This was billed as a "high-stakes" summit, and yet it ended with no deal.
President Donald Trump had been optimistic as he flew to Alaska yesterday morning aboard Air Force One about the prospects of securing a ceasefire in the war he promised he would finish on day one of his presidency.
But he went back to Washington empty-handed.
For President Vladimir Putin, though, the day was a great success.
Treated to full-on presidential pageantry, complete with a red carpet and American fighter jet escort, this looked and felt like a man being brought in from the cold.
At one point, President Trump even clapped as he watched the Russian president walk towards him.
The warm smiles, jokes and handshakes were certainly very different to the verbal mauling Ukraine's war leader Volodymyr Zelensky got the last time he visited Mr Trump.
A reporter shouted a question, asking Mr Putin if he would stop killing civilians.
The Russian president pointed to his ear, making as if he could not hear.
Perhaps most surprising of all was Mr Putin's decision to leave his Russian-made limousine idling on the tarmac, opting instead to climb into the US President's limo, known as "the Beast" - a sign of deep familiarity and trust.
Mr Putin grinned from the back seat as they sped away.
It was clear the Russian delegation felt very comfortable in Alaska, not least perhaps because it used to be Russian territory.
Ahead of the meeting, Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was spotted sporting a t-shirt emblazoned with CCCP - the Russian letters of the USSR - in a not-so-subtle reference to Russia's imperialist past.
The meeting went on for nearly three hours behind closed doors as the world held its breath.
But then came a rambling press conference, where President Putin and President Trump spoke in vague terms about what had been discussed.
Mr Putin took the stage first, delivering a lengthy monologue in Russian, which returned to familiar talking points about needing to address the "root causes" of the conflict. It became clear, he had not offered Mr Trump any concessions.
He also took the opportunity to mention the areas of "cooperation" between the US and Russia, notably in the Arctic - something we know President Trump is particularly keen on.
Then it was President Trump's turn, and in a roundabout way, he delivered the news everyone had been waiting for.
"There were many, many points that we agree on," he said.
"A couple of big ones that we haven't quite gotten there," adding, "so there's no deal until there's a deal". So, no deal then.
Mr Trump then went on to press his own favourite talking points - including several references to the "Russia, Russia, Russia hoax," and theories, he said, Mr Putin had told him about electoral fraud in the United States.
The event wrapped up with an invitation from Mr Putin to Mr Trump.
Switching to English, "next time in Moscow," he said. Mr Trump chuckled and said he might get a lot of "heat" for that one.
In the end, it was a "press conference" right out of the authoritarian's playbook - the men refusing to take questions from the free press, rather than risk any, perhaps, that might be difficult to answer.
This was highly unusual for President Trump, who has made freewheeling encounters with journalists a hallmark of his second term.
Whether Mr Trump takes Mr Putin up on his offer of meeting in Moscow remains to be seen.
But Mr Putin knows where he is going next.
At the end of this month, he will travel to China for a regional summit and bi-lateral talks with China's president Xi Jinping, whose support Mr Putin has relied on for his war on Ukraine.
With powerful friends like these, it seems the Russian president has paid little diplomatic cost for invading his neighbour.