No one should be surprised by the failure of the summit in Alaska. Putin turned up, got what he wanted and left. To be fair to the Russian president, he has been consistent all along. His demands on Ukraine have not changed one bit, and he came to the summit in the firm belief that he had nothing to lose by conceding not an inch.

Donald Trump has been consistently weak on consequences for Russia. Deadline after deadline has passed and still there are no significant sanctions on the Kremlin or increases in support for Ukraine. Putin played Trump like an agent handler plays an asset.

Red carpet, salutes, side business deals; marginalising Europe and Volodymyr Zelensky. The was the buddy buddy routine. No doubt the mercenary rebel Prigozhin was given the chum treatment before his jet fel

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