Trump-Putin Summit Was Big ‘Nothingburger,’ No Substance

President Trump and Vladimir Putin met in Finland today – touching on topics that ranged from denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, to a natural gas pipeline, and what role Russia played in interfering in the 2016 election. The joint press conference ended without a real resolution to ongoing tensions between the two countries.

Brian Taylor is an expert on U.S.-Russian political relations, and this month published the new book “The Code of Putinism,” He called the summit a big win for Putin, but said nothing substantive came out of the meeting. Brian Taylor is the professor and chair of political science at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Taylor says:

“In terms of substance, the Putin-Trump Helsinki Summit was a big nothingburger.

“In terms of optics, it’s a big win for Putin. Putin got the spectacle of the U.S. President being more friendly toward him than toward the American press or his own intelligence services. Nothing substantive was announced in terms of nuclear arms control, Syria, Ukraine, or the other major international issues the summit was supposed to address.”

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