Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia/Ukraine/Eurasia and CIR Advisory Board member Evelyn Farkas, Ph.D., in a piece for TIME, explains there are concrete ways President Trump could use his upcoming July 16th summit with Vladimir Putin to advance the United States' core interests.
... [I]n an ideal world, during the meeting with his Russian counterpart, Trump would firmly lay out what the United States expects from Russia and the further potential costs to the Kremlin of its anti-status quo, disruptive international behavior. Considering U.S. interests, here’s what Trump should do to make the summit a success.
First, he would make an ultimatum, informing Putin that if the Russian government continues to meddle in U.S. democracy via cyber hacking, social media, money, bribery or any other new creative means, the United States will beef up existing sanctions on Russia to the “extreme,” akin to sanctions against North Korea and Iran. The U.S. government would also consider additional proportional responses.
The president would next inform his counterpart that the United States and the 68-state coalition fighting ISIS in eastern Syria will not leave until a transition plan to replace dictator Bashar Assad is in place ...
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In this ideal situation, Trump would also defend the principle of inviolability of borders. He would remind Putin that the bulk of existing international sanctions on Russia are because of the Kremlin’s military invasions and occupations ...
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The latest news of the death of a British woman should also be on the agenda ...
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President Trump would then, with some relief, seize the opportunity to agree with the Kremlin—by asserting the dangers of the new nascent nuclear arms race ...
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The president would also validate Moscow’s concerns about the military balance between Russia and the United States, and about increasing Chinese strategic nuclear forces. He would call for high-level bilateral and multilateral talks on these issues ...
Read the full piece: How Trump Could Actually Make the Summit with Putin a Success (TIME)