close
Tuesday March 19, 2024

The Russian affair

By Editorial Board
July 19, 2018

US President Donald Trump’s summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was odd even by Trump’s standards. Breaking with diplomatic protocol, Trump held his meeting with only interpreters present. Then, in an extraordinary press conference, Trump appeared to side with Putin over claims that Russia had hacked the computers of his Democratic opponents during the 2016 election campaign. There is nothing Trump enjoys more than going abroad to harangue foreign leaders, which makes his deference to Putin rather puzzling. Once he began to receive criticism back home, however, Trump changed course and implausibly claimed he accidentally said “would” instead of “wouldn’t” when he was speaking of Russian hacking. That Trump met with Putin right after he had threatened America’s putative Nato allies and demanded they spend more on defence made his actions even more inexplicable. There have long been rumours and some (mostly) exaggerated claims that Putin may have compromising material on Trump that makes him susceptible to blackmail and he and his campaign are being investigated for possible collusion with Russia. Just before the Helsinki summit, 12 Russian intelligence operatives were indicted in the US for their alleged role in hacking.

There is a less conspiratorial reason why Trump may be so much more deferent to Putin. Trump has shown a fondness for authoritarian leaders and exhibits many strongman characteristics himself. Whatever the reason may be, a US-Russian détente can only be good news for the rest of the world. The two biggest nuclear powers in the world are currently fighting on opposite sides in the Syrian civil war. Their history has been one of fighting proxy wars around the world and using every other country as collateral in their struggle for global supremacy. Should they become closer, that reduces the possibility of conflict. And, while Russia may well have interfered in the US election, what it may (or may not) have done would still pale in comparison to the rigging and coups the US has orchestrated elsewhere. The superpower’s sanctimonious complaints about outside meddling in its elections are not of concern to anyone else. Peace between US and Russia, however, could help bring a resolution to the Russian wars in Ukraine and the Caucuses and the Syrian civil war. The US establishment is still stuck in a cold-war mentality where Russia is constantly demonised but Trump, whatever his motives may be, can finally try to change the paradigm of relations between the two countries.