Trump’s geopolitical gambit to restore relations with Russia
The MAGA foreign policy elite fantasises about prising Putin’s Russia away from its alliance with China, but there’s a long way to go before that could become possible.
The White House read out of President Trump’s call with President Putin this week contained within it two clues about why the administration is moving so fast on the Ukraine issue.
Paragraph 4 of 5, referring to the Middle East, included the following line: “The two leaders shared the view that Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel”. Paragraph 5 said the two leaders “agreed that a future with an improved bilateral relationship between the United States and Russia has huge upside. This includes enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability when peace has been achieved.”
This is another indication that MAGA republicans have concluded that the post-Cold War era is over and that they are determined to shape whatever the new period will be. In their reading of this era Ukraine is not particularly important, Europe can be jettisoned if it doesn’t pull its weight, and Russia is not a tier one threat. Working from this premise, Washington can focus on things it cares more about – primarily China, but also the Middle East.
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