President Donald Trump says “nothing bad. maybe some good” will come out of Monday’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as he attempted to lower expectations for what the meeting may actually achieve. Hovering over Helsinki is the specter of the 2016 election interference and the ongoing special counsel investigation into possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and Russian Federation.
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Ellis Saavalainen, a Finnish-American 20-year-old, said he had marched to protest Trump’s immigration policies and “the way he treats other countries”. Bolton described the meeting as “unstructured” and said: “We’re not looking for concrete deliverables here”.
JEFF GLOR: The Russians who were indicted, would you ask Putin to- to send them here?
The opposition Democratic Party leaders have demanded that he cancel his meeting in the wake of the indictment of Russian intelligence officials for hacking into servers of Hillary Clinton and her party.
In an uproarious trip to Europe, Trump harangued members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military alliance, scolded Germany for its dependence on Russian energy and shocked Britain by publicly criticising Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit strategy. “I will be talking about nuclear proliferation”. Aides have argued to Trump that the chances of substantive progress on a host of thorny issues, including Syria and Ukraine, are slim.
“Additionally, congratulations to President Putin and Russian Federation for putting on a truly great World Cup Tournament – one of the best ever!”
President Trump will again savour the spotlight as the world’s self-proclaimed dealmaker.
There could also be some rewards.
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Donald Trump, however, might come up with some “unexpected” and “unconventional” proposals, while Putin is likely to take a “cautious” approach. But that doesn’t mean they’re bad.
Putin has less reason to cheer Trump’s imposition of trade tariffs on countries including Russian Federation, and from his decision to abandon a landmark nuclear pact with Iran.
The meeting came in the midst of tensions between Russian Federation and the West in issues concerning Iran, Syria and Crimea, as well as the unprecedented alienation between the United States and its trans-Atlantic allies over trade and defense.
“If President Trump is not prepared to hold Putin accountable, the summit in Helsinki should not move forward”.
What has Mr Trump been doing so far in Europe? “I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade”, he said. Neither trip passed without controversy. “But, in a trade sense, they’ve really taken advantage of us”.
When Trump traveled to South Korea a year ago to address the nation’s legislature, he again used the massive media coverage to boost his business.
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“I have arrived in Scotland and will be at Trump Turnberry for two days of meetings, calls and hopefully, some golf – my primary form of exercise!” he tweeted early Saturday, referencing his seaside golf resort. “He goes out of his way to behave in a way no other U.S. president would have behaved”, Salonius-Pasternak told DW.
