“The Cold War is a thing of the past.” By the time President Putin said as much during preliminary remarks at his joint press conference with President Trump in Helsinki, it was clear this would not stand. Not after so much investment by American conservatives in Cold War 2.0.
Russophobia is a 24/7 industry, and all concerned, including its media vassals, remain absolutely livid with the “disgraceful” Trump-Putin presser. Trump has “colluded with Russia.” How could the President of the United States promote “moral equivalence” with a “world-class thug”?
Multiple opportunities for apoplectic outrage were in order.
Trump: “Our relationship has never been worse than it is now. However, that changed. As of about four hours ago.”
Putin: “The United States could be more decisive in nudging Ukrainian leadership.”
Trump: “There was no collusion… I beat Hillary Clinton easily.”
Putin: “We should be guided by facts. Can you name a single fact that would definitively prove collusion? This is nonsense.”
Then, the clincher: the Russian president calls [Special Counsel] Robert Mueller’s ‘bluff’, offering to interrogate the Russians indicted for alleged election meddling in the US if Mueller makes an official request to Moscow. But in exchange, Russia would expect the US to question Americans on whether Moscow should face charges for illegal actions.
Trump hits it out of the park when asked whether he believes US intelligence, which concluded that Russia did meddle in the election, or Putin, who strongly denies it.
“President Putin says it’s not Russia. I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
As if this was not enough, Trump doubles down invoking the Democratic National Committee (DNC) server. “I really do want to see the server. Where is the server? I want to know. Where is the server and what is the server saying?”
It was inevitable that a strategically crucial summit between the Russian and American presidencies would be hijacked by the dementia of the US news cycle.
Trump was unfazed. He knows that the DNC computer hard-drives – the source of an alleged “hacking” – simply “disappeared” while in the custody of US intel, FBI included. He knows the bandwidth necessary for file transfer was much larger than a hack might have managed in the time allowed. It was a leak, a download into a flash-drive.
Additionally, Putin knows that Mueller knows he will never be able to drag 12 Russian intelligence agents into a US courtroom. So the – debunked – indictment, announced only three days before Helsinki, was nothing more than a pre-emptive, judicial hand grenade.
No wonder John Brennan, a former CIA director under the Obama administration, is fuming. “Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to exceed the threshold of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors.’ It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin.”
How Syria and Ukraine are linked
However, there are reasons to expect at least minimal progress on three fronts in Helsinki: a solution for the Syria tragedy, an effort to limit nuclear weapons and save the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty signed in 1987 by Reagan and Gorbachev, and a positive drive to normalize US-Russia relations, away from Cold War 2.0.
Trump knew he had nothing to offer Putin to negotiate on Syria. The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) now controls virtually 90% of national territory. Russia is firmly established in the Eastern Mediterranean, especially after signing a 49-year agreement with Damascus.
Even considering careful mentions of Israel on both sides, Putin certainly did not agree to force Iran out of Syria.
No “grand bargain” on Iran seems to be in the cards. The top adviser to Ayatollah Khamenei, Ali Akbar Velayati, was in Moscow last week. The Moscow-Tehran entente cordiale seems unbreakable. In parallel, as Asia Times has learned, Bashar al-Assad has told Moscow he might even agree to Iran leaving Syria, but Israel would have to return the occupied Golan Heights. So, the status quo remains.
Putin did mention both presidents discussed the Iran nuclear deal or Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action and essentially they, strongly, agree to disagree. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have written a letter formally rejecting an appeal for carve-outs in finance, energy and healthcare by Germany, France and the UK. A maximum economic blockade remains the name of the game. Putin may have impressed on Trump the possible dire consequences of a US oil embargo on Iran, and even the (far-fetched) scenario of Tehran blocking the Strait of Hormuz.
Judging by what both presidents said, and what has been leaked so far, Trump may not have offered an explicit US recognition of Crimea for Russia, or an easing of Ukraine-linked sanctions.
It’s reasonable to picture a very delicate ballet in terms of what they really discussed in relation to Ukraine. Once again, the only thing Trump could offer on Ukraine is an easing of sanctions. But for Russia the stakes are much higher.
Putin clearly sees Southwest Asia and Central and Eastern Europe as totally integrated. The Black Sea basin is where Russia intersects with Ukraine, Turkey, Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Or, historically, where the former Russian, Ottoman and Habsburg empires converged.
A Greater Black Sea implies the geopolitical convergence of what’s happening in both Syria and Ukraine. That’s why for the Kremlin only an overall package matters. It’s not by accident that Washington identified these two nodes – destabilizing Damascus and turning the tables in Kiev – to cause problems for Moscow.
Putin sees a stable Syria and a stable Ukraine as essential to ease his burden in dealing with the Balkans and the Baltics. We’re back once again to that classic geopolitical staple, the Intermarium (“between the seas”). That’s the ultra-contested rimland from Estonia in the north to Bulgaria in the south – and to the Caucasus in the east. Once, that used to frame the clash between Germany and Russia. Now, that frames the clash between the US and Russia.
In a fascinating echo of the summit in Helsinki, Western strategists do lose their sleep gaming on Russia being able to “Finlandize” this whole rimland.
And that brings us, inevitably, to what could be termed The German Question. What is Putin’s ultimate goal: a quite close business and strategic relationship with Germany (German business is in favor)? Or some sort of entente cordiale with the US? EU diplomats in Brussels are openly discussing that underneath all the thunder and lightning, this is the holy of the holies.
Take a walk on the wild side
The now notorious key takeaway from a Trump interview at his golf club in Turnberry, Scotland, before Helsinki, may offer some clues.
“Well, I think we have a lot of foes. I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now, you wouldn’t think of the European Union, but they’re a foe. Russia is a foe in certain respects. China is a foe economically, certainly they are a foe. But that doesn’t mean they are bad. It doesn’t mean anything. It means that they are competitive.”
Putin certainly knows it. But even Trump, while not being a Clausewitzian strategist, may have had an intuition that the post-WWII liberal order, built by a hegemonic US and bent on permanent US military hegemony over the Eurasian landmass while subduing a vassal Europe, is waning.
While Trump firebombs this United States of Europe as an “unfair” competitor of the US, it’s essential to remember that it was the White House that asked for the Helsinki summit, not the Kremlin.
Trump treats the EU with undisguised disdain. He would love nothing better than for the EU to dissolve. His Arab “partners” can be easily controlled by fear. He has all but declared economic war on China and is on tariff overdrive – even as the IMF warns that the global economy runs the risk of losing around $500 billion in the process. And he faces the ultimate intractable, the China-Russia-Iran axis of Eurasian integration, which simply won’t go away.
So, talking to “world-class thug” Putin – in usual suspect terminology – is a must. A divide-and-rule here, a deal there – who knows what some hustling will bring? To paraphrase Lou Reed, New Trump City “is the place where they say “Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side.”
During the Helsinki presser, Putin, fresh from Russia’s spectacular World Cup soft power PR coup, passed a football to Trump. The US president said he would give it to his son, Barron, and passed the ball to First Lady Melania. Well, the ball is now in Melania’s court.
As always, Pepe’s report is refreshing, with lots of insight. It is a sharp break by far from the mainstream corporate media that parrots official propaganda.
Asia Times is not worth reading without Pepe, seriously.
Pepe the Great. Precise, penetrating, cogent, concise, as always.
This Canadian is shocked at the demonization of Trump in MSM pages. Do writers and commenters not realize that DJT was elected by Americans themselves. Of all candidates he was the most open and forceful in his ideas which he did not change after winning.
The Left Liberal Elite in America that MSM like NY Times represents forgets that there are Americans who think differently. The LLE rather than dismiss their legitimate concerns should listen to them, acknowledge the differences, convince them to their views with logic and compassion, and seek areas of common interest.
With all his shortcomings Trump is doing exactly the same with Putin, and that is laudable. LLE is ideological, while Trump is realist, and reality will always triumph over figments of imagination.
Oh btw, as a Canadian I did financially support McGovern 1972 Campaign from my meagre student funds, and volunteered for Obama 2008 while working in Seattle WA.
Pepe, always informative, but Trump declaring war on China???? What the hell do you think the BRI is to the US? Replacing the dollar with the Yuan as an overt goal….
gggffgh
I thought you were a Pakistain
Certainly a refreshingly different viewpoint. But still flavored by anti-anything Western. I’d be interested on Pep’s view on China’s Social Credit System……
Ivor Large
Infidels made Germany for Germans, Brazil for Brazilians, but the Lord made the entire universe for Believers.
I have already lived in Africa, Europe, Asia, and America. Borders means nothing for us. But you are tied to land – stay there. China is foreign to you, not to us.
Ivor Large Tell me what is the standard of ‘Social Credit System…’
Thank you George Ohrwell for saying what I am thinking when reading the mostly "FICTION" on Asian Time. Without Pepe and Zerohedge.com I would be in trouble. The Fair Maiden——the SCUM, corrupt, in the bag Mainstream Media———-calling Edward Bernays—–please pick up the phone!!!
Syed Abbas ‘fraid to say I work all over the world, including China, USA, African countries.
But as you despise the W so much, I was just wondering when you and this imaginary Turkish lass will move to China ?
David Mak Seems that many Chinese ladies prefer something abit bigger.
Without Nursey, you’d also be in trouble.
Honestly, you need a scribbler to make you feel worthwhile ?
David Mak
You will find many who will first try to reduce you to their level, and then beat you with their experience.
Best not to respond. He seeks legitimacy.
Was Putin’s passing the ‘football’ to Trump symbolic of Cold War ‘game theory’? The idea being that when one opponent gained (temporary) superiority over the other they would ‘pass the ‘hot potato’ to the other in order to imbalance their opponent. Now it’s Trump’s turn to gain strategic mastery over Putin. Hah.
are you dim or what, AsiaTimes??
The 24×7 ‘russophobia industry" in the US is not a conservative element, it is being fought against by conservatives i.e. the GOP who’ve been trying to keep a lid on it.
You claim "Trump it it out of the park" with his rubbish about the DNC server… it’s not missing, never was, and the investigation has a copy of its contents DUH.
There are so many gaffes in this piece of trash journalism that I’m thinkin’ you have ties to the Trump machine or the Robert Mercer/Cambridge Analytica world of manufactured and targeted lies.
I just lost a lot of respect for this rag today, reading this. You’re completely clueless about what went on in Helsinki, and who and what Trump is, and what’s about to begin in the US by way of either getting r id of him or seeing him stage a military takeover at Putin’s direction… not for nothing is that infamous military parade he wants scheduled for about a week before the mid-terms… using troops for an election campaign is technically illegal, like he cares about laws… but the GOP are terrified of those mid-terms so they’ll play along with what he tries to pull.
Mueller can’t lower the boom soon enough, is how many SANE people in this world are seeing this. You at the AsiaTimes are apparently both immoral as well as blind.
WIth you all the way. I have been a long time reader of Atimes but this drivel…? Better things to do.
Stephen Moore Given the amount of Russian money around Thailand and Bangkok, it seems likely now that this rag now has a Kremlin flavour to it. I liked it for its different perspectives on world news, but this aping of the Trump-Putin propaganda line is just a bit much. #fail
Another online rag I used to like for its different perspectives and range of alternative world news and reporting was The Epoch Times but since Trump was elected it’s clear that they are part of the Trump machine and alternative reality… it’s Chinese Disapora-run, based in Toronto I think, and published in I don’t know how many languages. theepotchtimes.com
apparenltly if’s the Falun Gong Dafa crowd behind it, and at times it’s had some great critiques of the Chinese Communist Party that were worth trying to understand and other reporting about China but it’s gone from being anti-CCP internationalist into Trump-cheerleading bogusness.
Trump is not in touch with reality. Putin and Xi are much more so. They are humouring him. He’s a fool. He’s not going to accomplish anything. You would have to have a SERIOUS person engaging China, Russia and North Korea. He’s just fooling around, and it will probably have a disastrous end with the not so smart American people calling for REVENGE against Russia. This is clearly a mess already with everyone all mixed up about everything. The American people are now completely irrevocably confused about Putin and "Russia", Trump and everything else, and it’s not going to be easy to undo this. He’s not serious. You have to have a serious president, not a certified jagoff.
Because of this personal History, I see the unfolding details reported by the MSM GENERALLY confirming this Vision of the Future recorded by THE KANSAS CITY TIMES September 13, 1976.
“He came to town for the Republican National Convention and will stay until the election in November TO DO GOD’S BIDDING: To tell the world, from Kansas City, this country has been found wanting and its days are numbered […] He gestured toward a gleaming church dome. “The gold dome is the symbol of Babylon,” he said.” […] He wanted to bring to the Public’s attention an “idea being put out subtly and deceptively” by the government that we have to get prepared for a war with Russia.”
The 1976 FUTURE is NOW with the Revelation of the details GENERALLY unfolding in the spirit of the letter. The World is waking up to see Trump may hasten “its days are numbered” part of the 1976 Public record.
Withdrawing from the Iran Nuclear Deal will speed that up. Trump and the Republican Congress rescinded the few Regulations put in place to prevent another Global Financial Collapse as happened in 2008. Trump’s "easy to win’ Trade War will also hasten the Day. It’s not a question of IF but WHEN?
The KANSAS CITY TIMES did a follow up on ALL SOULS DAY, November 2, 1976. The TV movie ‘THE DAY AFTER’ Kansas City was incinerated in a Nuclear Holocaust appeared in 1983. Most likely, I was the only Human on Earth, including the newspaper reporters, to note at the END, the movie pauses at the very same picture frame THE KANSAS CITY TIMES chose for the ALL SOULS DAY record 7 years earlier.
Any way you look at it, that HISTORICAL FACT is a confirming SIGN for our Generations, the World has finally arrived at this point of Decision, of an “idea being put out subtly and deceptively” by the government that we have to get prepared for a war with Russia.” The constant US anti-Russia/Putin Propaganda in the media 24/7 for the last year confirms that part of the preparation in the 1976 Vision is well under way.
Few will recognize, “this country has been found wanting and its days are numbered” as the 1st two parts, of the 3 part ‘Writing on the Wall" from Daniel 5 and the Captivity of Babylon some 2600 years ago.
The whole world saw “The Writing on the Wall” for the 1st TIME at the same TIME, with the Global Financial Meltdown-Economic Pearl Harbour in September of 2008, even if the world does not recognize it as such.
The 3rd part of the ‘Writing on the Wall’ tells of the decline of Babylon, the 1st Biblical model of the Nation reaching Imperial Military-Economic Superpower Status, and the rise of Persia
Ancient Babylon is now Iraq, and ancient Persia is now Iran.
The US is the latest, greatest, of all the Nations reaching Imperial Military-Economic Superpower Status in the 2600 year old Biblical Babylonian superstructure.
The TAIL struck the HEAD, invading Iraq in violation of International Law, causing the unravelling of the Earthly Babylonian superstructure/infrastructure, undermining the
Global Order as represented by the United Nations since WWII, and ushering in the Law of the Jungle to the Middle East and this World. It also paved the way for increased Iranian influence in their own region of this world where the US is recognizable as the interloper.
The Iranian Revolution happened in 1979, 2-1/2 years after the Public Historical Record in the 1976 KANSAS CITY TIMES Timeline.
All the chaos in the Middle East since then, including the carnage in Syria, is the consequence of the vain attempt to reverse that God ordained, repeat of History, as a SIGN of The Times for our Generations.
The 2 original 1976 newspaper records, clips from ‘THE DAY AFTER’ and much more not included in this comment can be examined following the link below.
https://ray032.com/2013/09/01/signs-of-the-times/