FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
President Trump Calls Putin To Discuss Strategic Cooperation, Possible Meeting
March 20, 2018 (EIRNS)—Speaking with reporters during his Oval Office meeting with Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Salman today, President Donald Trump briskly announced that he had called Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in the day to congratulate him on his electoral victory, and propose that that the two of them meet “in the not-so-distant future” to discuss how to jointly prevent an arms race, amongst other crucial issues.
As the President elaborated:
“The call had to do, also, with the fact that we will probably get together in the not-too-distant future so that we can discuss arms, we can discuss the arms race. As you know, he made a statement that being in an arms race is not a great thing. That was right after the election—one of the first statements he made.
“And we are spending $700 billion this year on our military, and a lot of it is that we are going to remain stronger than any other nation in the world by far.
“We had a very good call, and I suspect that we’ll probably be meeting in the not-too-distant future to discuss the arms race, which is getting out of control, but we will never allow anybody to have anything even close to what we have. And also to discuss Ukraine and Syria and North Korea and various other things,”
he concluded.
The U.S. media, both the CNN “anti-Trump” and the Fox News “pro-Trump” variety, showed their British pedigree by going berserk against Trump for talking with Putin.
The Kremlin readout cohered with the spirit of President Trump’s report on the two leaders’ discussion, including mention of interest in increasing economic cooperation.
“Donald Trump congratulated Vladimir Putin on his victory in the presidential election. The leaders spoke in favor of developing practical cooperation in various areas, including efforts to ensure strategic stability and combat international terrorism, with particular emphasis on the importance of coordinated efforts to curb an arms race,”
the Kremlin reported.
“The exchange on economic cooperation revealed an interest in bolstering it. Energy was discussed separately.
“The problem of Syria was discussed, as was the internal crisis in Ukraine. There was recognition on both sides of the need to make rapid strides toward achieving settlements.
“Satisfaction was expressed with the limited reduction of tensions around the Korean Peninsula. The expediency of continuing consistent efforts to resolve the situation by peaceful, diplomatic means was underscored.
“It was agreed to develop further bilateral contacts in light of the changes in leadership at the U.S. Department of State. The possibility of organizing a top-level meeting received special attention.
“On the whole, the conversation was constructive and businesslike, with a focus on overcoming the accumulated problems in Russian-American relations,”
it concluded.
