I don’t know if there is a Russian version of the famous phrase “playing with bells on”. But I am sure that Putin and his team should kiss Trump’s hand for rejecting the “encirclement by NATO” strategy and putting an end to the US State and Defense departments’ role as global map engineers.
With the Neo-Cons on the one hand and the globalist liberals on the other, the United States, which has turned the 21st century into a battlefield since its first day, seems to have finally realized that the only competition in our age is in the fields of production, education, space exploration – and perhaps a little trade.
I finished that last sentence with “…he seems to have grasped it”, but then I deleted it and replaced it with “…he seems to have grasped it”, which, as the old saying goes, leaves open the consideration box. Because even though he seems to have devoted his life to politics, we are not dealing with a president, but with a very wealthy person whose state of mind changes frequently. But Trump has put Elon Musk, another wealthy man who is driven not by knowledge, not by science, not by research, but by the rage of young gaming fanatics against civil servants, in charge of saving public money. He appointed a billionaire real estate investor, Charles Witkoff, as his Special Envoy to the Middle East. Musk and Witkoff are both close to Russia in their respective fields and are extraordinarily close to Putin. Not only them, but Marco Rubio, known for his hawkish stance on China and dovish stance on Russia, is the Secretary of State, and Tulsi Gabbard, known for her admiration for Russia and hostility towards Zelensky, whom Trump appointed as the Director of National Intelligence, the position between all US intelligence agencies and the president, is also influential in the formation of Trump’s views and policies.
Newspapers, websites, non-governmental organizations and research institutions are up in arms about Trump’s overall policy and the new direction of US-Russia relations that he has managed to change in the last month. A commentator for the US Public Broadcasting Corporation even said that the president and his men were lying on behalf of Russia. From Russia Today magazine to all other pro-Kremlin outlets, the Russian media has been full of praise for the US and flattery for Trump. There was even global admiration for Trump’s hairstyle! Another historic headline read: The US and Russia Rewrite History.
Yes, that’s right: the history of the world is being rewritten, if we look at what the camera is projecting right now. But there are those who look behind the camera. For example, one source says that Trump has met with Putin five times since his first presidency, but there is not a single word in the state records about who said what during these meetings. In fact, the source said, Trump did not allow members of the foreign and defense ministries who were part of the delegation into the meeting, took away the translators’ notes and instructed them not to say anything to anyone. There is still a Wikipedia page about 14 ministers and department heads having secret ties with Russia during Trump’s first term. In the investigation into these ties, dubbed “Russiagate”, Trump denied all allegations of collusion.
CNN’s well-known programmer Christiane Amanpour, citing some of her sources, claims that Putin, contrary to popular belief, speaks English very well and that he met with Trump one-on-one without interruptions.
These developments undoubtedly signal that we are entering a period of “detente,” a period of international de-escalation. Will Trump and his team be able to ensure that this detente is global? How ready is Trump’s team, whom he praised as “not all Jews, but all Zionists!”, to forget the still-memorable speeches about “Greater Israel” and “an Israel-like Kurdistan”?
Russia’s failure to achieve military success against Ukraine and the loss of face it has suffered, as well as the US decision and the abstention of Europe, which has contributed billions of dollars to this war, now cast a shadow over the success of this “sudden peace” operation.
Putin and his team should not be too quick to rejoice.
