Mikheev: Trump and Putin Meeting Will be Game-Changer, Will Trump Accept Russia’s Position?

— Bolton was asked whether Trump would accept the Russian doctrine. His answer was quite interesting. "It's not the position of the US." But I'd say that's not what Trump might state. It's not a direct reply to a straightforward question.

Sergey Mikheyev, top political expert: America is not going to save its allies. And the fate of Poland is not the core of their agenda, Jakub. It's obvious that Poland, the Baltic states, and other states are mere tools for the US. They'll protect their own interests. These tools might get damaged during operation. The current trade war shows the true relations between the US and Europe. In this regard…

— The two candies that Trump threw at Merkel.

 

— It's good that Trump has started calling things by their proper names. Adam was given an opportunity to call things by their proper names. This situation is extremely important. For the last few decades, the tolerant global elite has been coming up with fake names and fake names breed fake meanings. That's not the way Trump deals with the matter. He calls things by their proper names, which is good.

— You must understand the depth of Sergey's idea regarding the fake meanings. It's not an accident such a devout believer as Sergey would address this issue. But we need to take a small break.

Bolton said many interesting things today. But what's important is that he tried to switch the conversation every time he received an uncomfortable question claiming that those weren't the matters he came to discuss. He tried to circumvent the questions about the crash of MH17, Crimea, and his article. I interrupted Sergey while he was giving a brilliant speech. Please, continue.

— Speaking about Bolton, getting into office always changes the way a person thinks. It's always been like that. It's easy to make claims when you have no responsibilities. It's harder when you have a task. And his task is to prepare for the meeting. It doesn't matter whether he likes or hates Russia: He has to prepare for the meeting somehow. It must be held. And it would be pointless if the sides don't reach an agreement. Returning back to what I was talking about the fate of Eastern Europe is not on the American agenda. And they'll exploit any state they find useful, including Poland.

— Ukraine?

— No, not Ukraine. Ukraine would negatively affect the outcome of the meeting. Curiously enough, Trump can use Europe's weakness against it. The US can't be treated as "the collective West." But if Trump's meeting with Putin goes generally positively he might tell Europe that he's able and ready to resolve issues with Putin turning Europe's weakness against it by showing Europe that it can't talk to Russia but the genius President Trump can. It's fine if there's nothing but general declarations. It would be a meeting of equals. Europe can't do that, it's nothing without the US. That's the way Trump might put it.

— It's not "you're nothing without the US" but rather "I don't need you to talk to Russia."

— He doesn't need Europe because he can decide things over its head while Europe hesitates, trying to figure out whether it has the political will to talk to Putin, while remaining friends with the US. While they are dealing with all the intrigues inside their huge European melting pot Donald Trump can decide those things without any mediators. That's important. But speaking about Trump's position you've mentioned that after the meeting, Trump might say that he and Putin get along well. I'm not so sure about that. It's not his goal to show how much he enjoys dealing with Putin. His goal is to show that he is ready to negotiate with Putin in a way that lets the US achieve its objectives at least on a rhetorical level. I don't think that upon his return Trump will be talking about what a great man Putin is and how great relations with Russia are. We don't raise our hopes now just to be get frustrated later when they tell us that we won't get anything that we were expecting. Actually, we won't get anything apart from something we can use. As it's been mentioned several times in this show, our main goal is not to become euphoric and to not get overly excited about negotiations with the US thinking that the mere chance to negotiate with the US is a great gift.

We must be ready to get nothing but general declarations. Sure, those declarations can have a positive impact. But I doubt they'll come up with something more substantial. We also shouldn't assume the position of preserving our previous arrangements at any cost. That's what losers do. We shouldn't assume the loser position because our opponents will immediately use it.

— But there's another crucial aspect. Trump initially stated that he didn't believe in alliances and would rather establish bilateral relations. Moreover, despite all the weeping at the G7 regarding Russia Trump trolled them even though Bolton said that they didn't discuss this issue. But the mere fact that Trump is having a summit with Putin shows that the Western illusions of Putin's isolation and him being an exile, have failed miserably. It crashed.

— They prefer to ignore that fact.

— Are you sure? Britain urged Europe to boycott the World Cup.

Jakub Korejba, political analyst, Poland: And who else? They have a strategy for dealing with your country.

— Yet it doesn't work. I'd like to remind you that Merkel said that Europe should use a harsh tone with Russia.

— She constantly talks about dialogue though.

— She was speaking about not giving in. I'd like to remind you what the former US administration said about Russia. They called for international isolation. That's what the former administration did. And I won't even mention the position of Canada you all know perfectly well.

— May I ask a question, Sergey? What can you offer to the United States that would make them concede that would make them comply with your demands?

Sergey Mikheyev: Nothing, which is a good thing. Unlike some others, I don't believe we can reach friendly relations with the US. It's an impossible task. There are reasons for that. And don't pretend it's possible because if you move towards it you'll lose your strategic advantage. Basically, a balance that won't ignite a war or raise world tension to dangerous levels is something that we should aspire to. We should cooperate in some projects and sectors. I have no control over our politics, but my personal opinion is that we don't need to offer them anything. Nothing.

— We didn't initiate the meeting.

— It wasn't Russia that initiated this meeting. We didn't initiate it.

Jakub Korejba: So you are okay with the status quo with America.

— No, we're not okay with it. To answer your question... We weren't the initiators, so we don't have to make offerings. And tactically speaking, Trump needs this meeting more than Putin does.