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Channel 4
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Channel 4
What can we learn from past summits before Trump-Putin meeting?
'Will he become my new best friend?' mused the owner of the Miss Universe Pageant, after inviting President Putin to the beauty parade in Moscow in 2013. Alas, the Russian leader was too busy with affairs of state to attend. He can't have known that he was passing up a meeting with the future US president. Maybe he wouldn't have gone even if he had known. The former KGB agent knows that keeping people waiting and guessing is a superpower. Fast forward 12 years: the summit in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday will be the sixth encounter between President Putin and President Trump . Best friends would be overdoing it, but both men will be trying to make the most of the understanding they have developed. Putin will have read reams of intelligence on Trump – his prejudices, his predilections, his vulnerabilities. Trump, by contrast, eschews the offerings of the CIA, saying he knows within a couple of minutes after walking into a room whether there's going to be a deal. 'He is an instinctive operator,' says Professor David Reynolds, author of Summits: Six Meetings that Shaped the Twentieth Century. 'European leaders are afraid that Trump will be outwitted by Putin one-on-one in a room.' That happened, famously, when the two men met in Helsinki in 2018. American security services had told Trump that the Russians had interfered in the 2016 election – to his advantage. 'I have great confidence in my intelligence people but I will tell you President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,' said Trump. He had bought the Kremlin's line. He trusted Putin, a trained KGB operator, who knows exactly how to manipulate a man like Trump who is susceptible to flattery and persuasion. The most infamous example of a leader trusting another too much came in 1938 when Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned from a meeting with Adolf Hitler in Munich brandishing a piece of paper that said the Führer had promised not to continue his blitzkrieg across Europe in exchange for Britain and France allowing Germany to keep part of Czechoslovakia. But 'peace in our time' ended up as 'appeasement'. Hitler had no intention of stopping, and Chamberlain's attempt at negotiation has gone down in infamy. At the end of the Second World War, the Big Three – Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt – met at Yalta to carve up Europe. Winston Churchill, then British prime minister, far preferred the company of the Russian dictator, Josef Stalin, to that of US President Franklin D Roosevelt, who was in ill-health and somewhat subdued. 'Trump really admires strong men and Putin is one of those,' says Professor Reynolds. 'Similarly, Churchill, at the back of his mind, didn't forget that Stalin was a mass murderer, but actually he was interesting. He had a dry sense of humour and he had done some amazing things to turn his country around.' Stalin did not keep the promises he made Churchill at Yalta, refusing to allow free and democratic elections in eastern Europe. The Cold War was born. Forging a peace agreement on Ukraine will require a detailed understanding of Ukrainian geography and history – not to mention the participation of the Ukrainian government and people. Trump, however, cares nothing for such complexities, nor the democratic niceties of the Ukrainian constitution. He's more interested in striding the world stage in the company of his friend Vladimir. World leaders often put great store by the chemistry between them, and their own ability to triumph in negotiation, but diplomats tend to be less convinced by the greatness of great men. 'They're terrified about having leaders in a room talking to each other,' says Reynolds. 'The diplomats are usually greatly contemptuous in private in their diaries about the leader's ignorance of everything and really do not want these men let loose on international problems.' European diplomats are watching the summit in Anchorage with trepidation. They fear that, in his haste to get a deal, and with his admiration for Putin, Trump will sell Ukraine down the river. American diplomats, who will have to finesse any agreement in which the Russians get a clear advantage, are well aware of the dangers. They might read a poem that British officials circulated during the Second World War as Great Men talked war and peace. 'And so while the great ones depart to their dinner, The secretary stays, getting thinner and thinner. Racking his brains to record and report What he thinks that they think that they ought to have thought.' This article was originally posted on Substack, subscribe to Channel 4 News here .
Hindustan Times
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
The real collusion between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin
To thwart Donald Trump is to court punishment. A rival politician can expect an investigation, an aggravating network may face a lawsuit, a left-leaning university can bid farewell to its public grants, a scrupulous civil servant can count on a pink slip and an independent-minded foreign government, however determined an adversary or stalwart an ally, invites tariffs. Perceived antagonists should also brace for a hail of insults, a lesson in public humiliation to potential transgressors. Vladimir Putin has been a mysterious exception. Mr Trump has blamed his travails over Russia's interference in the 2016 election on just about everyone but him. He has blamed the war in Ukraine on former President Joe Biden, for supposedly inviting it through weakness, and on the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, for somehow starting it. Back when Russia invaded in February 2022, Mr Trump praised Mr Putin's 'savvy'. For months, as Mr Putin made a mockery of Mr Trump's promises to end the war in a day and of his calls for a ceasefire, the president who once threatened 'fire and fury' against North Korea and tariffs as high as 245% against China indulged in no such bluster. He has sounded less formidable than plaintive. 'Vladimir, STOP!' he wrote on social media in April. His use of the given name betrayed a touching faith that their shared intimacy would matter to his reptilian counterpart, too. When Mr Putin kept killing Ukrainians, Mr Trump took a step that was even less characteristic: he admitted to the world that he had been played for a fool. 'Maybe he doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along,' he mused on April 26th. A month later, he ventured that his friend must have changed, gone 'absolutely CRAZY!' Then on July 8th he acknowledged what should have been obvious from the start: 'He is very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.' Mr Trump threatened secondary sanctions on Russia but then leapt at Mr Putin's latest mixed messages about peace, rewarding him with a summit in America. Why, with this man, has Mr Trump been so accommodating? Efforts by journalists, congressional investigators and prosecutors to pinpoint the reason have often proved exercises in self-defeat and sorrow. The pattern seemed sinister: Mr Trump praised Mr Putin on television as far back as 2007; invited him to the Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow in 2013 and wondered on Twitter if he would be his 'new best friend'; sought his help to build a tower in Moscow from 2013 to 2016; and tried unsuccessfully many times in 2015 to secure a meeting with him. Then came Russia's interference in the election in 2016, including its hack of Democrats' emails to undermine the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton. Some journalists fanned suspicions of a conspiracy—'collusion' became the watchword—by spreading claims Mr Putin was blackmailing Mr Trump with an obscene videotape. The source proved to be a rumour compiled in research to help Mrs Clinton. Nine years later Mr Putin's low-budget meddling still rewards America's foes by poisoning its politics and distracting its leaders. Pam Bondi, the attorney-general, has started a grand-jury investigation into what Mr Trump called treason by Barack Obama and others in his administration. The basis is a misrepresentation of an intelligence finding in the waning days of Mr Obama's presidency. Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, has said that because Mr Putin did not hack voting machines, the finding that he tried to help Mr Trump was a lie. The conclusion under Mr Obama was instead that Mr Putin tried to affect the election by influencing public opinion. The exhaustive report released in 2019 by an independent counsel, Robert Mueller, affirmed on its first page that 'the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome.' Mr Mueller indicted numerous Russians, and he also secured guilty pleas from some Trump aides for violating various laws. But he did not conclude the campaign 'conspired or co-ordinated' with the Russians. To wade through the report's two volumes is to be reminded how malicious the Russians were and how shambolic Mr Trump's campaign was. It is also to lament the time and energy spent, given how little proof was found to support the superheated suspicions. And it is to regret how little Mr Trump was accorded a presumption of innocence. In the final words of the report, Mr Mueller noted that while it did not accuse Mr Trump of a crime, it also did 'not exonerate him'. One might understand his bitterness. The puzzle of Mr Trump's admiration for Mr Putin may have been better addressed by psychologists. Certainly Mr Putin, the seasoned KGB operative, has known how to play to his vulnerabilities, including vanity. Mr Trump was said to be 'clearly touched' by a kitschy portrait of himself Mr Putin gave him in March. Putin on the blitz Yet that patronising speculation may be unfair to Mr Trump, too. It certainly understates the hazard. He has weighty reasons to identify with Mr Putin. Since the 1930s a cornerstone of American foreign policy has been that no country can gain territory by force, a principle also enshrined in the charter of the United Nations. Yet in his first term, in pursuit of his vision of Middle East peace, Mr Trump twice granted American recognition of conquered territory, for Israel's claim to the Golan Heights and Morocco's claim to Western Sahara. He appears to envisage an end to the war in Ukraine that would also award Russia new territory. This is how 'savvy' people like Mr Trump and Mr Putin believe the world actually works, or ought to: not according to rules confected by stripy-pants diplomats to preserve an international order, but in deference to power exercised by great men. A world hostage to that theory may be the legacy of their true collusion. Subscribers to The Economist can sign up to our Opinion newsletter, which brings together the best of our leaders, columns, guest essays and reader correspondence.
Edmonton Journal
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Edmonton Journal
Lethbridge model and philanthropist Jaime VandenBerg crowned Miss Universe Canada
Article content On Saturday, the five finalists of Miss Universe Canada gave a minute-long speech during a gala in Windsor, Ont. Article content The contestants could talk about anything they wanted. So Lethbridge's Jaime VandenBerg chose a heavy topic, albeit one that is close to her heart. She spoke about gender-based violence. It was part sobering reality and part motivational speech. Article content 'I used the time to talk about how every 11 minutes a woman dies due to gender-based violence, but we can be the generation of change,' says VandenBerg, repeating part of the speech in a phone interview with Postmedia. 'Every moment and every second we are here is an opportunity to make change, go after your dreams and accomplish anything that you've ever wanted to.' Article content Article content 'When I spoke about surviving gun violence, the entire audience went quiet,' she says. 'It was insane to be able to speak to thousands of people like that. To silence a room of that many people was absolutely wild.' Article content Later in the evening, VandenBerg was declared Miss Universe Canada, which means she will represent the country in November at the Miss Universe Pageant in Thailand. Article content Article content The win came after more than a week of competition that pitted the international model and philanthropist against 70 delegates from across Canada. That included Calgary's Elise Featherstone, who was once a contestant on the American reality series Naked and Afraid; entrepreneur Kirsten Andresen, who recently earned a degree in biomedical engineering at the University of Calgary; Sarah Lambros, a seismic processor and former Calgary Stampede Princess; and Sonia Saxon, an entrepreneur and engineer. Article content The delegates were put through various competitions since Aug. 1, including traditional judged components based on evening gowns and swimwear and a 'best-body' competition, which caused a bit of an uproar on social media as some deemed it to be a severely outdated category. Article content But the delegates also had to prepare a humanitarian report, which was worth 25 per cent of their score, based on each delegate's fundraising for the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Calgary Herald
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
Lethbridge model and philanthropist Jaime VandenBerg crowned Miss Universe Canada
Article content On Saturday, the five finalists of Miss Universe Canada gave a minute-long speech during a gala in Windsor, Ont. Article content The contestants could talk about anything they wanted. So Lethbridge's Jaime VandenBerg chose a heavy topic, albeit one that is close to her heart. She spoke about gender-based violence. It was part sobering reality and part motivational speech. Article content Article content 'I used the time to talk about how every 11 minutes a woman dies due to gender-based violence, but we can be the generation of change,' says VandenBerg, repeating part of the speech in a phone interview with Postmedia. 'Every moment and every second we are here is an opportunity to make change, go after your dreams and accomplish anything that you've ever wanted to.' Article content Article content She also recounted a harrowing moment in 2021 when she was shot at by a stranger in the street, narrowly avoiding death. Article content 'When I spoke about surviving gun violence, the entire audience went quiet,' she says. 'It was insane to be able to speak to thousands of people like that. To silence a room of that many people was absolutely wild.' Article content Later in the evening, VandenBerg was declared Miss Universe Canada, which means she will represent the country in November at the Miss Universe Pageant in Thailand. Article content Article content The win came after more than a week of competition that pitted the international model and philanthropist against 70 delegates from across Canada. That included Calgary's Elise Featherstone, who was once a contestant on the American reality series Naked and Afraid; entrepreneur Kirsten Andresen, who recently earned a degree in biomedical engineering at the University of Calgary; Sarah Lambros, a seismic processor and former Calgary Stampede Princess; and Sonia Saxon, an entrepreneur and engineer. Article content The delegates were put through various competitions since Aug. 1, including traditional judged components based on evening gowns and swimwear and a 'best-body' competition, which caused a bit of an uproar on social media as some deemed it to be a severely outdated category. Article content But the delegates also had to prepare a humanitarian report, which was worth 25 per cent of their score, based on each delegate's fundraising for the Canadian Mental Health Association. Article content Philanthropy has already been a big part of VandenBerg's life. The 28-year-old grew up in Coaldale before attending the University of Lethbridge and studying philosophy. She served as a crisis support worker in the Victim Services Unit at the Lethbridge Police Station, where she assisted with domestic violence cases. Article content She took the Law School Admission Test, intending to become a lawyer, but instead became a model. She signed with Calgary's Mode Models four years ago and has modelled around the globe. Article content In 2022, she received the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal for her philanthropy, which included a project called Pico for a Purpose. While living in Mexico City, she summited the highest mountain in the country, Pico de Orizaba, and raised $3,000 for the Lethbridge YWCA and a women's shelter in Mexico City. Article content She took up mountain climbing as a form of therapy to help overcome the 2021 incident. VandenBerg was on a modelling gig when it happened. She does not want to reveal what country she was in, except to say it wasn't Canada. But it could have been, she says. Gender-based violence was a 'silent endemic during the pandemic' in Canada, skyrocketing by 40 per cent. Article content Article content 'It's definitely not something Canada is above, and that's normally why I leave out where it happens because it doesn't make a difference, it happens here, too,' she says. Article content VandenBerg said she was followed from her agency in the middle of the day and was held at gunpoint by a man. Article content 'He grabbed my bag and I thought I was being robbed,' she says. 'My heart broke when I realized I wasn't being robbed, when he grabbed my shoulder and I realized, 'Oh, I'm being taken.' It was like everyone's worst nightmare sinking in.'' Article content VandenBerg figured she was being kidnapped and said she had to decide between 'a short death or a long death.' Just as she pulled away, another man grabbed the assailant from behind as he shot, and the bullet narrowly missed her. The harrowing story has become part of VandenBerg's public profile. It is even detailed in her bio on the Miss Universe Canada website. Article content Article content 'Miss Universe Canada and Miss Universe and pageants in general are some of the largest women's empowerment platforms in the world,' she says. 'Everybody who is trying to compete, everybody who wants to become Miss Universe and pretty much any other titles for that matter, has to have a cause, a charity they support and philanthropy they are doing. At the same time, you are surrounded by some of the most accomplished women across our country. So it is a very inspirational and motivational experience that truly is focused on women's empowerment and self-betterment.'
