The Iceman cometh to Alaska, the Iceman getteth his photo opp and then the Iceman poppeth off again, leaving the Donald in a pool of tepid ignominy.
Alex Andreou is joined by our regular foreign policy guru, Arthur Snell, to consider whether this was a bit of a disater for Trump, a bit of a let-off for Ukraine ahead of Zelensky's hastily-announced trip to Washington, or a bit of both.
And they look at the latest from Gaza, another war Trump said he was going to end that has only got worse, as well as the increasing humanitarian crisis in Sudan.
“Trump went out on a limb before the summit to say what he wanted out of it: a ceasefire. This gives a very clear yardstick by which to measure the result, which was - well - not a ceasefire.”
“The fancy lunch that was planned was shelved. So, clearly, behind closed doors, things must have gone quite badly, whatever Trump now claims… Even if you're a supporter of Trump, the last person you would trust on what happened in a meeting behind closed doors, would be Donald Trump.”
“Trump may not have ended the two wars he promised, but he has apparently ended up to six additional wars, some of them nuclear. Although you wouldn’t know them. They go to a different school.”
“The Russians overplayed their hand, with their disrespectful, mocking approach. We know from, for example, Fiona Hill, who was Trump's Russia advisor in the first presidency, a Russia expert of considerable renown, that in meetings in Russian Putin is sarcastic and makes fun of Trump.”
“What is it that Trump wants? This thing about the Nobel Peace Prize, again I thought was a bit of a joke, or that he wanted it just because Obama had had it. But apparently he's obsessed with this idea. He’s been ringing up Norwegian politicians to tell them that he deserves it.”
“Russia underestimated Europe. Now, it had every reason to given the history. But Finland and Sweden in NATO, a huge advance in defence spending, and also Ukraine becoming itself a significant manufacturer of weapons - all of it points to a lack of tactical or strategic insight on Putin's side.”
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CALL TO ACTION
Help Ukraine by supporting the Smart Medical Aid charity here.
Medecins Sans Frontier is still operating in Gaza.
Catch Arthur's latest Behind The Lines episode.
Arthur's substack Not All Doom is here.
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With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. A Cooler Heads production, in cahoots with Sandstone Global.
Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com.
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