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Putin's Poodle
The aborted Alaska summit on Russia’s war on Ukraine displayed the opposite of the kind of all-powerful leader that Donald Trump tries to project. Instead, Vladimir Putin dominated the meetings, both in the sense of theater and substance.
After making a variety of threats to get Putin to agree to a cease-fire pending final peace negotiations, Trump meekly agreed to Putin’s framing of how events had to play out. The Friday summit, itself a victory for Putin, ended early. Trump let Putin speak first and he spoke twice as long as Trump did. The planned press session never materialized; the working lunch was canceled; and on Saturday Trump put out an obsequious statement on Truth Social that read as if it was dictated by Putin (and effectively it was.)
The statement read in part:
“The meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia went very well, as did a late night phone call with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, and various European Leaders, including the highly respected Secretary General of NATO. It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.”
This is exactly what Zelensky was trying to avoid, because it allows Russia’s attacks to continue and lays the groundwork for an all-or-nothing peace deal on Russia’s terms, which would involve extensive concessions of Ukrainian territory as well as guarantees that Ukraine would never join NATO. This would leave Ukraine open to more Russian demands in the future, in a manner eerily reminiscent of Trump’s deals with universities, which only lead to more demands.
After making a variety of threats to get Putin to agree to a cease-fire pending final peace negotiations, Trump meekly agreed to Putin’s framing of how events had to play out. The Friday summit, itself a victory for Putin, ended early. Trump let Putin speak first and he spoke twice as long as Trump did. The planned press session never materialized; the working lunch was canceled; and on Saturday Trump put out an obsequious statement on Truth Social that read as if it was dictated by Putin (and effectively it was.)
The statement read in part:
“The meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia went very well, as did a late night phone call with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, and various European Leaders, including the highly respected Secretary General of NATO. It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.”
This is exactly what Zelensky was trying to avoid, because it allows Russia’s attacks to continue and lays the groundwork for an all-or-nothing peace deal on Russia’s terms, which would involve extensive concessions of Ukrainian territory as well as guarantees that Ukraine would never join NATO. This would leave Ukraine open to more Russian demands in the future, in a manner eerily reminiscent of Trump’s deals with universities, which only lead to more demands.
https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2025-08-18-putins-poodle-trump-ukraine/]