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Putin Has Already Won — And the Meeting Hasn’t Even Started
Vladimir Putin doesn’t need to outmaneuver Donald Trump in negotiations. He doesn’t even need to win on policy. His victory was sealed the moment he accepted Trump’s invite.
The Win Is in the Optics, Not the Outcome
Politics is perception, and global politics is perception on steroids.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has spent the last decade increasingly isolated. Sanctions, travel bans, and diplomatic snubs have turned him into a political exile in the eyes of the West. Russia has been kicked out of the G8 Summit, and nearly all of Europe and several countries in Latin America, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea have condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Moreover, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a warrant for his arrest. Should he travel to any country that has signed ICC, he will be take into custody.
And yet, with a single meeting in Alaska, he erases years of that narrative. All he needs is the handshake, the press conference backdrop, and the two flags side by side.