Paul
Goble
Staunton, July 11 – Many especially
in Eastern Europe feared that the first Putin-Trump summit in Hamburg could
become a second Yalta, leading to a new dividing line in the continent with
them on the wrong side. But in fact, Vladimir Abarinov argues, what occurred
was rather a repetition of the 1922 Rappallo Accord between Soviet Russia and
Weimar Germany.
That should not reduce concerns but
rather increase them because the latest meeting by two “outsiders” who relish
in that status like the two earlier “outsiders” who were forced into that
position by war and revolution ultimately led to the Soviets helping the Germans
illegally rearm after their defeat in World War I.
The difference between these two
situations, the Moscow commentator says, is that “the US voluntarily has
rejected the role of world leader and, on its own initiative, has set itself
against the international community on such important issues as free trade,
climate change and migration” (graniru.org/opinion/abarinov/m.262446.html).
Russia, in contrast, he continues,
is isolated “as a result of its actions and now is trying to present sanctions
as ‘a hidden form’ of protectionism.” But because of the path both leaders have
pursued, their meeting in Hamburg like that of the Germans and Soviets at the time
of the Genoa talks has all the earmarks of “a summit of the unjustly offended.”
And thus, Putin who has been forced
into isolation has chosen to work with Trump who has relished in the status of
an outsider, of a leader against the world, exactly the kind of cooperation
that in the case of Rappallo led to so many negative consequences and may lead
to more now.
At the very least, Abarinov’s
insight suggests that Putin will play to Trump’s sense of being an outsider to
increase tensions between Washington and Europe and thus play to the Kremlin
leader’s fundamental goal of splitting the Atlantic world and thus giving
Russia a much freer hand.
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