Jul 5, 2017

The Trump-Putin power struggle

Dario Gambarin / AP

"Trump-Putin Talks Raise Anxiety Ex-Spymaster Will Get Upper Hand," by Bloomberg's Margaret Talev, Henry Meyer and Ilya Arkhipov:

"Trump's encounter with Russian leader Vladimir Putin [at the G-20 in Germany on Friday] is raising concerns among veteran American diplomats and analysts about a mismatch between a U.S. president new to global affairs and a wily former Soviet spymaster experienced in the long game of strategy and statecraft."
"Putin ... has used his first face-to-face meetings with prior presidents to try to gain the upper hand."
"Trump is known to shun preparation and instead go with his gut, placing great faith in what he believes to be an ability to read the person sitting across from him."
"In the case of Putin, who is trained in deception, this could be difficult to do — especially if the Russian leader tries to disarm Trump with praise."

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