President Joe Biden, 78, amused himself after meeting with 68-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin in a safe-house on Lake Geneva for about two-and-a-half hours, three-to-four hours shorter that expected. Biden said he “did what I came to do,” emphasizing that things were copacetic between the two world leaders. Before the summit, 58-year-oldSecretary of State Tony Blinke and 73-year-old Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov each postured about possible demands, leaving the actual meeting with more suspense, not knowing what would happen.. Unlike Putin, Biden came with a long list of complaints about the Russian Federation, especially recent Russian-based cyber attacks on critical U.S. infrastructure including the Colonial Pipeline and Brazil-bases meatpacking, the larges beef, port and poultry supplier in the U.S. Biden did better than expected.
Biden got paid an oblique compliment by Putin, calling the president “an experienced statesman,” very different from his predecessor 75-year-old President Donald Trump. Putin said the meeting was “quite conducive.” “There was no hostility. Quite the contrary,” Putin said, in a disguised slap to Trump, essentially saying that Biden was more predicable than the previous commander-in-chief. While the U.S. press looked for confrontation between the two world leaders, Biden and Putin both agreed that the summit was orderly and civilized. Biden had been pushed to confront Putin on a variety of issues related to Ukraine, human rights in Russia and a flurry of cyber attacks that left critical U.S. infrastructure paralyzed. Both leaders agreed to work on improving U.S.-Russian relations, agreeing to reopen embassies with full diplomatic personnel in Moscow and Washington.
Biden and Putin agreed to let their diplomats and military experts to get things back on track, after U.S.-Russian relations hit rock bottom after Biden called Putin a “soulless killer” March 16. “President Putin and I share a unique responsibility to manage the relationship between two powerful and proud countries—a relationship that has to be stable and predictable,” Biden said, one of his goals in holding the summit. Biden wanted to meet face-to-face with Putin to re-establish some personal rapport that the ongoing relationship would work toward stability and predictability. Without saying it, Putin didn’t know what to expect with Trump, whose flamboyant style was a bit much on the world stage. While Trump never pushed Putin, especially on cyber security or meddling in U.S. elections and democracy, Biden invited Putin to open a new chapter in cooperative relations with the U.S.
Biden and Putin agreed to open as strategic working group designed for both countries to get on the same page when it came to global hot spots around the globe. Biden asked Putin to help with the U.S. transition out of Afghanistan, the longest ‘war” in U.S. history, coming up Sept. 11 on the 20th anniversary. Pentagon planners have ongoing concerns about the Taliban trying to destabilize the U.S.-backed Kabul government of 72-year-old Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Putin said he would try to provide stability to the transition as the U.S. military leaves Afghanistan in September. Biden pressed Putin on 44-year-old jailed Russian dissident Alexi Navalny, something he and Blinken made a big deal about in the run up to the Geneva summit. Putin countered that whatever issues involved Navalny, the U.S. has been cracking down on Jan. 6 Capitol protesters, much like Russia does to preserve order.
Biden called any comparison between the Jan. 6 arrests-and-prosecutions and Russian human right abuses in Russia “ridiculous.” But Biden surely knows, as Putin pointed out, that both countries deal harshly with rabble-rousers try to disrupt national order. Biden didn’t like Putin’s rejoinder but the parallels are clear, especially when the press calls the Jan. 6 rioters “insurrectionists.” No sovereign state can accept “insurrectionists” as legitimate protester or human rights activists. Putin pointed out he didn’t want Russia to fall into the same pattern of violent street riots that happened in the United States last summer sponsored by Black Lives Matter and other leftist groups. Biden wants to call Putin’s analogy “ridiculous” but maintaining street order is the essential responsibility of all sovereign governments. U.S. press has to get over its muckraking and yellow journalism.
Biden’s meeting with Putin was a success because he parked the vitriol at the door and tried to treat Putin like any other head-of-state. Whatever alleged complaints about Russia’s human rights abuses or its military adventures in Ukraine, Putin certainly explained what happened with Crimea. No one in the Western press wanted to hear Putin talk about the violent Feb. 22, 2014 pro-Western coup in Kiev, toppling the Kremlin-backed government of Viktor Yanukovych. No one in the Western press responded to Putin’s explanation of what happened March 1, 2014 in Crimea or in Russian enclaves in eastern Ukraine. Calling Biden “an experience statesman,” Putin felt more comfortable with Biden knowing what to expect, over his predecessor. “There’s no happiness in life. There’s only a mirage on the horizon . . . But I believe there is a spark of hope in his eyes,” Putin said, expressing the bottom line.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
