FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
Preparations for Putin-Trump Summit Continue
June 26, 2018 (EIRNS)—President Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow tomorrow (June 27), Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced today. Peskov named as Russia agenda items for tomorrow’s discussions “the issues of international stability and security, the disarmament issues and well-known regional problems and certainly, bilateral relations,” in the framework of the preparation for a possible Russian-U.S. summit, according to TASS. Asked whether Bolton would meet with Putin, Peskov answered that “If such a meeting takes place, we will inform you about it.”
Speculation abounds, as do wild outbursts of hysteria welling up from the proponents of the old geopolitical order, over the realization that this summit might, finally, actually occur. Typical is this afternoon’s Washington Post article (“After Diplomatic Equivalent of a Multiple-Car Pileup, U.S. Allies Brace for NATO Summit”), quoting unnamed European diplomats muttering that they can’t decide which would be worse, Trump meeting Putin before they can work him over at the NATO summit, or afterwards, when they “would not be able to mop up the mess.” Trump’s successful June 12 summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un has added to the fear that he might reach agreements with Putin which will overturn the Old Order’s applecart altogether. They may also be worrying that Trump may do to NATO what he did to the G7.
The City of London’s Financial Times cites an unnamed senior Russian official to the effect that the summit will be held after President Trump’s July 13 visit to the U.K. following the July 11-12th NATO summit, and that the two countries have reached a preliminary agreement on a host country, which is not Austria, but one “logistically more convenient.” Britain’s Daily Telegraph couldn’t restrain itself from publishing worried rumors that Trump might go to Moscow and attend the World Cup final on July 15. An unnamed senior U.S. official told Reuters this afternoon that the Finnish capital of Helsinki is being looked at as a possible location for the summit. Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto sent out a tweet in response to questions about the summit, reporting only that “Finland is always ready to offer its good services if asked.”
Where it is held is not the meat of the issue; that it be held is vital.
