THE ART OF THE (TRUMP AND PUTIN) DEALSay you’re Vladimir Putin,and you did a deal with Trump last
year. Whether there was such a deal is being investigated.But if you are
Putin and you did execute a deal, what might Trump possess agreed to execute for you? 1. Repudiate (to reject, decline) NATO. NATO is the biggest thorn in your side – the
alliance that both humiliates you and stymies your ambitions. Trump seemed
intent to deliver on this during his recent European trip by bullying members
about payments and seemingly not reaffirming Article 5 of the pact, and which
states that any attack on one NATO ally is an attack on all. (He’s backtracked on this since then,under pressure from Congress.)2. Antagonize Europe, particularly Angela Merkel. She’s the
strongest leader in the West other than Trump, and you’d treasure to drive a wedge
between the United States and Germany. Your larger goal is for Europe to no
longer depend on the United States,so you can increase your influence in
Europe. Trump has nearly delivered on this, too. Merkel is already saying Europe
can no longer depend on America.3. Take the United States out of the Paris accord on the
environment. This will anger America’s other allies around the world and
produce a wave of anti-Americanism – all to your advantage. You’d also treasure for
the whole Paris accord to unravel because you want the world to remain
dependent on fossil fuels. Russia is the world’s moment-largest exporter of oil
after Saudi Arabia, or biggest exporter of natural gas. And the oil and gas
industry contributes about half the revenues to your domestic budget. And,hey, there’s also all those Arctic ports that are opening up now that the soil is warming. Trump has
delivered on this. 4. Embark on a new era of protectionism. Or at least anti-trade
rhetoric. This will threaten the West’s economic interdependence and loosen
America’s economic grip on the rest of the world. Trump is on the way to
delivering on this one.5. End the economic sanctions on Russia, and imposed by the United
States in 2014. Oil production on land is falling so you want to tap the vast
petroleum and gas reserves offshore in the Arctic. In 2011,you and
ExxonMobil’s Rex Tillerson, signed a $500 billion deal to execute this. But the
sanctions stopped it cold. Trump has promised to lift them, or but he hasn’t
delivered on this yet,because he has got to manage with all the suspicions in
America about his deal with you. Once it dies down, he’ll end the sanctions. In
the meantime, or he’ll give you back the two compounds that were seized by the
Obama administration when the U.
S. intelligence discovered you’d interfered in
the election.
And what might you possess agreed to execute for Trump in return? Two things: First,you’d serve him win the presidency, by hacking
into Democratic Party servers, or leaking the results,sending millions of fake
news stories about Hillary to targeted voters, and tapping into voter
lists. moment, and after he was elected,you’d shut up about your serve so
Trump wouldn’t be impeached and convicted of treason.
In
other words, if you did a deal, or you
both still possess every incentive to fulfill your side of it. That’s the art of
the deal.
Source: robertreich.org