The Make Russia Great Again "Summit"
A spectacle to legitimize Kremlin geopolitical aspirations in Europe and beyond
What’s Not Being Mentioned in the Press About the “Summit”
U.S. headlines are flattering Vladimir Putin by focusing on his power, while neglecting to mention that Russia is a failed state and a kleptocracy. More precisely, Russia is a failed state because it is a kleptocracy: Putin’s massive corruption and plunder of state agencies and institutions did not spare the Russian military, which was initially in such a sorry shape that it became necessary to import North Korean soldiers to have bodies on the ground in Ukraine. Why is Russian kleptocracy not mentioned?
Nor do we hear about Russia’s substantial economic and other dependence on China. As Lucid guests journalist Melissa Chan and China expert Prof. Victor Shih observed, the Russian and Chinese economies are intertwined to an extent that is not generally recognized, and Russia is now a client of China in many areas. Again, Putin’s plunder and corruption has contributed to this situation.
This reality is a corrective to the “powerful Putin” narratives that dominate in the press. We should consider Xi as an absent presence in Alaska, along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump Has to Atone for Past Failures as a Kremlin Partner
It is a disservice to the public not to be clear about the nature of the relationship of Trump and Putin, and we must acknowledge that Trump is in office to solve Putin’s problems. In a March 2025 essay, I considered the ways Trump might collaborate with Russia:
Trump and his enablers in and outside of the GOP will produce a steady stream of performances and propaganda meant for two audiences: autocrats, especially Putin, and the millions of Americans who still need to be indoctrinated to see the world in ways that benefit Trump and his Kremlin ally.
You may recall that, during the February Oval Office meeting with Zelensky, Trump felt the need to evoke the difficulties that the Russia investigation of his first term created for Putin because Trump did not have sufficient power in his first term to shut down the investigation.
We may see Trump’s extraordinary statement in the light of the “self-criticism” Communist operatives were required to engage in when they displeased the regime.
“Let me tell you. Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” Trump said. “He had to suffer through the Russia hoax…He went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt…It was a phony Democrat scam. He had to go through it. And he did go through it.”
No wonder that, as soon as he got back into power, Trump scurried to redeem himself. He soon signed orders to disband TaskForce KleptoCapture, which targeted Russian oligarchs, disband the FBI’s Foreign Influence Taskforce, and relax enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered U.S. Cyber Command to stand down from all planning against Russia, including digital actions.
A “Summit” to Legitimize Kremlin Geopolitics
This is the background for the Make Russia Great Again “summit.” This encounter had nothing to do with “peace.” Actual peace could have been achieved at any time by Russia withdrawing from Ukraine. Rather, it was about legitimizing Russia’s imperialist aspirations on the world stage and redeeming Trump personally as a “fixer” for Putin’s problems.
Clapping for Putin on the tarmac, and allowing him to ride in the presidential limo, with no translator or aides present, is unprecedented. I read this as proclaiming to the world that Putin has total access to Trump and there is no presidential space that is off-limits to him, while Zelensky is excluded to send the message that Ukraine has no autonomy or status and can be asked to sacrifice territory to end a war that Putin started.
The choice of the Alaska locale normalizes the Kremlin’s imperialist aspirations outside of Europe as well. “I’m going to see Putin. I’m going to Russia,” Trump said repeatedly in public in the days before the Alaska meeting, knowing well that Russia aspires to regain control of the mineral and resource-rich U.S. state.
Trump here performs one of his favorite tricks: the trial balloon. An outrageous idea is floated, seemingly as a slip of the tongue, for an audience of hundreds of millions, then re-introduced and circulated when the time is right until it becomes accepted. Trump’s “mistake” conjures a geopolitical imaginary linked to the Kremlin’s Arctic strategy: Russia regains control of Alaska, and its United States partner takes Canada and Greenland —all territories rich in minerals and other natural resources.
Hosting Putin in Alaska may be seen as a step forward for that Arctic strategy.
It was predictable that no “breakthrough” happened in Alaska, because ending the war was never the point of this spectacle. Rather, this “summit” was about the breaking of taboos, in this case, the welcoming onto American territory of Putin, who has an International Criminal Court arrest warrant out for him for war crimes in Ukraine.
It is fitting that Trump ordered a red carpet for Putin. The American president evidently sees Putin as someone who can influence his own destiny in meaningful ways. Solving the Kremlin’s problems will continue to be a priority of American policy.
When he was Senator, Marco Rubio chaired the Senate Committee that found Russia interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Trump. With Rubio, we are watching how cowardice and personal ambition corrupt the soul and drain the spirit.
Thank you for such an excellent analysis of the "peace summit" today. I still wonder what trump and/or the US get out of meetings like this. It seems like every time trump and putin get together, all the spoils go to putin.