Entente Cordiale Hits Speed Bump

[toucana]

President Donald Trump who arrived late and left early from the G7 world leaders summit in Canada threw his relationships with America’s most important allies into fresh confusion last night.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/09/politics/trump-justin-trudeau-g7-communique/index.html

In a set of angry tweets sent from Airforce One which is on route to Singapore for the Summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Trump angrily attacked Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau calling him “weak and dishonest”. Trump also reneged on a previously agreed joint communique saying “I have instructed our US Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the US Market!”.

The office of the Canadian prime minister responded by pointing out that “The primie minister said nothing he hasn’t said before - both in public, and in private with the President”.

So what provoked Trump’s extreme fury, and his damaging volte-face in tearing up a diplomatic agreement that he had only just signed off on? The full text of the Charlevoix G7 Summit communique can be found here —>

https://g7.gc.ca/en/official-documents/charlevoix-g7-summit-communique/

One section that catches the eye is paragraph #17:

We urge Russia to cease its destabilizing behaviour to undermine democratic systems and its support of the Syrian regime. We condemn the attack using a military-grade nerve agent in Salisbury, United Kingdom. We share and agree with the United Kingdom’s assessment that it is highly likely that the Russian Federation was responsible for the attack, and that there is no plausible alternative explanation. We urge Russia to live up to its international obligations, as well as its responsibilities as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to uphold international peace and security. Notwithstanding, we will continue to engage with Russia on addressing regional crises and global challenges, where it is in our interests. We reiterate our condemnation of the illegal annexation of Crimea and reaffirm our enduring support for Ukrainian sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within its internationally-recognized borders. We maintain our commitment to assisting Ukraine in implementing its ambitious and necessary reform agenda. We recall that the continuation of sanctions is clearly linked to Russia’s failure to demonstrate complete implementation of its commitments in the Minsk Agreements and respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty and we fully support the efforts within the Normandy Format and of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for a solution to the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. Should its actions so require, we also stand ready to take further restrictive measures in order to increase costs on Russia. We remain committed to support Russian civil society and to engage and invest in people-to-people contact.

Trump had previously antagonised other G7 leaders by loudly declaring that Russia should be re-admitted to the summit without any preconditions in spite of having been explicitly excluded in 2014 over its annexation of the Crimean peninsula. Paragraph #17 of the G7 communique with its explict reference to Russia’s complicity in using the Novichok nerve agent in an attack on British soil was the chosen response of the G7 to Trump’s braggadocio. It seems that it was not to Moscow’s taste.

[Serpent]

People will elect spoiled toddlers to their highest political office!
We just got one in Ontario. It's nowhere near as powerful a position as POTUS.
Be interesting to see how much harm he can do with such limited scope.

[Watson]

It does seem like erratic behavior. It may seem less erratic if we consider it is not his behavior? Perhaps trump is just the public face of Putin's frustration.

It really is not a stretch to think Putin has a great influence over trump. Blackmail recordings of trump with Russian prostitutes most likely do exist. This would be consistent with both Russian tactics and trump's habits. The technology is here, that trump and Putin could be in close contact, and trump does wish/need to refuse more secure communication devices.

So going forward we should look a trump's words and actions, and ask, is it Presidential behavior? Or is it more consistent with Putin as puppet master. There is after all, growing indications that trump is just the puppet.

[jocular]

It does seem like erratic behavior. It may seem less erratic if we consider it is not his behavior? Perhaps trump is just the public face of Putin's frustration.

It really is not a stretch to think Putin has a great influence over trump. Blackmail recordings of trump with Russian prostitutes most likely do exist. This would be consistent with both Russian tactics and trump's habits. The technology is here, that trump and Putin could be in close contact, and trump does wish/need to refuse more secure communication devices.

So going forward we should look a Trump's words and actions, and ask, is it Presidential behavior? Or is it more consistent with Putin as puppet master. There is after all, growing indications that trump is just the puppet.

Surely the secret services would be all over him if he was in secret communication with the Russian government?

Has not enough already come out about Trump for him to no longer fear any disclosures (other than ones which would be quite clearly treasonous)

Cavorting with prostitutes in Moscow and getting them to urinate on Obama's bed would be ,in my mind mild in comparison to what has come out at this stage.

His liking for Putin and associated tyrants is really weird (and abhorrent) but not unshared by sections of the public outside Russia.Could that just be it?

[Watson]

Well wasn't the first thing trump did was push the secret service to the periphery and bring in his own personal protection? And who's to say the secret service isn't monitoring trump/putin communications. And who knows what Putin might have on trump. Certainly there is no lower limit on what trump might have done, thinking it was in private.

No doubt it will all come out, eventually. It will also take decades to undo the damage he is doing. And some of it will not be able to be undone.

[Serpent]

I thought the first thing he did was give the most important jobs to his immediate family and friends [pro tem].
Plus, look to his pre-political behaviour. Snits, whims, tantrums, self-indulgence, about-faces and grudges have been his default setting all along. He didn't need Putin to be childish. (And I'm pretty sure Putin isn't the ally Trump thinks he is. Use 'im and lose 'im.)

[Braininvat]

Cavorting with prostitutes in Moscow and getting them to urinate on Obama's bed would be ,in my mind mild in comparison to what has come out at this stage.

His liking for Putin and associated tyrants is really weird (and abhorrent) but not unshared by sections of the public outside Russia.Could that just be it?
--jocular

To the first statement - indeed. We have him on tape saying how he has sexually assaulted women and how a guy like him can get away with it. He's also openly sneered at articles of the Constitution and the rule of law, heaped insults on various nationalities and ethnicities, and tells provable lies an average of six times a day. At this point I would sprinkle rose petals in the path of, and kiss the feet of,
a president who only cavorted with prostitutes. To the second part of you comments....my guess is that Trump is a narcissistic and highly suggestible personality who responds to flattery and manipulation to a degree unprecedented in the history of the American presidency....and Putin is a charming manipulator, as might not be unusual for former KGB.