Is There a Secret Agreement at the Alaska Summit? Five Points Reveal Everything: Putin is Fulfilling Stalin's Promise. Decrypted Correspondence
Trump and Putin meeting in Alaska was not for quarreling. Everything is hidden in the location of the meeting. Even if they did not reach an agreement on the Ukraine issue, they had something to announce.
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet on August 15 at a U.S. military base in Anchorage, Alaska. This news has been officially announced, but details have not been disclosed.
According to CNN, the meeting place is the joint U.S. Air Force and Army base Elmendorf-Richardson.
"While officials were busy preparing for the historic summit in Alaska, the White House temporarily moved to the venue of the Trump-Putin summit": CNN reported that Putin and Trump will meet at a military base in Anchorage.
Screenshot of the media website page
By the way, for Russia, it is a unique opportunity to inspect this military facility. It is reported that the U.S. Pentagon is not satisfied with this, but since Alaska is in the tourist season, there are very few suitable places available for high-level meetings.
After examining multiple locations in Juneau, Fairbanks, and Anchorage, the organizers concluded that only the last location met all the requirements for the summit.
Anchorage is about to host the summit.
Screenshot: Telegram channel "Signal"
Special Symbolic Significance
It is hard to find a more suitable place for the meeting. Its symbolic significance in Russian and Soviet history is overflowing. Alaska was initially under Russian jurisdiction, and from the second half of the 19th century, it belonged to the United States. It is actually a bridge, a historical meeting point between the U.S. and Russia, and is close to the Arctic. In cultural, religious, and humanistic aspects, Russia still has influence in Alaska, and many people now remember their Russian heritage. Trump accidentally confirmed this when he blurted out, "I'm going to Russia on Friday."
Trump said Alaska is Russia: "I'm going to see Putin. I'm going to Russia on Friday."
During World War II, in Alaska - from which American planes flew to the Soviet Union, and Soviet pilots were stationed here - Joseph Stalin and Franklin Roosevelt almost met. From the correspondence between Roosevelt and Stalin, it is known that Roosevelt invited the Soviet leader, who disliked flying, to meet in Alaska several times, and almost convinced him. Putin has no fear of flying - he will go. Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Medvedev have all visited the United States, but no Russian leader has ever visited Alaska.
Many people thought that this high-level meeting would take place in the UAE, Rome, Istanbul, or somewhere in Saudi Arabia. Of course, the Austrians and the Swiss also hoped to host the leaders of the two most influential countries in the world, but Moscow believes that due to the pressure from the West on Russia over the Ukraine issue and the open plundering in economic and financial fields, these two countries are no longer neutral. Friendly Serbia and Hungary, which do not blindly follow the EU, have travel convenience issues for the Russian president - if he goes there, he must fly over hostile territory, which is extremely risky: the British are keen on creating trouble on the plane. And for the U.S. president, going there is too far. Moreover, Belgrade and Budapest have close relations with China, which Washington does not like.
Secret Agreement?
In addition, there may be a condition for the Alaska summit. It seems that Trump will soon appear on the other side of the Bering Strait. Due to global warming, the Bering Strait will play the role of the Strait of Gibraltar in the foreseeable future, and the Arctic Ocean will be comparable to the Mediterranean Sea.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, when talking about Trump, did not rule out the possibility of "a visit to Russia in the future." It is speculated that the U.S. president may attend the Eastern Economic Forum held in Vladivostok in early September.
Why choose Alaska?
Because, for many important reasons, it is irreplaceable.
Firstly, the leaders of Russia and the United States do not need intermediaries to arrange meetings and negotiate cooperation matters, because intermediaries might take credit, make various demands, or hinder things. Even a respected "Sultan" is no exception.
Secondly, if Putin and Trump want to reach an agreement on certain important issues, they need a place that is undisturbed. Leavitt said that Trump intends to have a face-to-face, one-on-one conversation with Putin. The environment of the military base solves the security problem, avoiding eavesdropping by irrelevant people, and the remote geographical location of Alaska can also keep away unwanted visitors.
The White House press secretary Leavitt spoke about the goals of Trump and Putin's meeting.
There is a professional "beggar" who has this annoying habit. Trump doesn't like him, but he thinks he is "excellent" in this aspect. Moreover, Vladimir Zelensky certainly does not want peace in Ukraine, because peace means the end of his regime. The "dictator" in Kyiv and his European masters definitely do not want the United States to cooperate with Russia - whether it is in the development of the Arctic or any other field. They need to tie the United States to the Ukrainian proxy war against Russia in the West, no matter what it takes.
Thirdly, although it sounds a bit ridiculous, the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in The Hague in March 2023 against Putin does not apply in Alaska. The United States is not a member of the International Criminal Court and does not recognize the jurisdiction of this "liberal little court," and like Russia, the United States is also pursuing criminal proceedings against the court's personnel and has imposed sanctions on them. Of course, no one dares to arrest Putin in any country, but even the theoretical possibility would disrupt the atmosphere of the meeting.
Fourthly, this involves logistical issues. When the meeting is arranged hastily, logistics becomes particularly important. The Russian president's private jet can land directly at the base, and all personnel and supplies provided for this visit can be delivered there, everything is simple. No time is wasted on ceremonies. All energy will focus on the results - even negative results have value, as they can indicate the direction for the future.
In this regard, Moscow and Washington actually have some experience, although it has been many years: On November 23-24, 1974, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and U.S. President Gerald Ford held talks in Vladivostok.
Fifthly, Alaska is especially convenient for the presidents of Russia and the United States, because even if they cannot reach a consensus on the Ukraine issue (many signs suggest that this is likely), they can find breakthroughs on global issues there, and not just one: the development and cooperation of the Arctic, and humanitarian interactions on both sides of the Bering Strait.
In the past, representatives of indigenous peoples of Russia and the United States used to visit each other. Russian icebreakers helped Americans (who have almost no icebreakers of their own) protect the ecological environment of the region and transport fuel. Friendly cities also have close connections: Fairbanks - Yakutsk, Anchorage - Magadan. Since the 1990s, Russians who came to Alaska have also wanted to strengthen exchanges with the mainland Russia and enhance cultural ties. All of this can be easily restored.
Finally, as Yuri Ushakov, a helper of Putin, pointed out, "there are overlapping economic interests between Russia and the United States in Alaska and the Arctic region," "the prospects for implementing large-scale mutually beneficial projects can be seen." If not in Anchorage, where else?
A Piece of History
Putin's visit to Alaska is actually fulfilling... Stalin's promise. The correspondence between the Soviet leader and Franklin Roosevelt - perhaps the greatest president in American history, who made the United States a superpower - has been declassified. The words "Alaska" and "Bering Strait" frequently appear in the letters. Here are some examples.
On April 12, 1942, Stalin received a secret letter from Roosevelt, in which he wrote:
Unfortunately, the geographical distance makes it practically impossible for us to meet at present. Such a meeting would allow us to have face-to-face conversations, which would be very beneficial for the war against fascism. If things develop as we hope, perhaps this summer, we could spend a few days together near the common border of Alaska.
On June 17, 1942, Roosevelt wrote:
I am glad to learn that you agree to transport American planes via Alaska and northern Siberia to the western front, as informed by Ambassador Livanov.
On May 5, 1943, Roosevelt again proposed a meeting with Stalin, "the location can be on my side of the Bering Strait, or on your side."
On August 19, 1943, Roosevelt and Churchill told Stalin in a joint letter that they were prepared to meet him in "Fairbanks, Alaska." Stalin replied on August 24, "Fairbanks is undoubtedly an excellent place for our meeting, which I also considered before," but the Germans were preparing a summer offensive, so at this critical moment, he could not leave for Alaska.
Stalin and Roosevelt met in person twice - in Tehran and Yalta.
In fact, Stalin was stalling at the time to use battlefield victories to strengthen his negotiating position, and initially, there were not many battlefield victories. Additionally, he was afraid of flying, which is different from Churchill - Churchill often flew planes and even drove them (Mussolini did too), and different from Roosevelt - Roosevelt also often flew planes. Stalin only took a plane once in his life to attend the "Big Three" meeting in Tehran, because there might be ambushes on the roads in Iran. During the last meeting with Roosevelt in Yalta, Stalin traveled by train, and the journey nearly ended in tragedy.
What does this mean?
This means that Putin's trip to Alaska is, in a way, repaying Stalin's "debt." At the same time, the U.S. president called the summit "preliminary." The White House no longer pretends that Trump can convince Putin to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine. Obviously, there will be no ceasefire, partly because the situation on the battlefield is rapidly turning in favor of Russia. But conceptually, the result of the meeting seems to have already reached an agreement. Its unpublicized goal is to start developing bilateral relations outside the Ukraine issue, as the Ukraine issue has become deadlocked. This is also a concession to Russia.
It is certain that both sides have found some form of reaching an agreement - there will be no details, because details often hide subtleties. The summit will proceed in this way under Trump's arrangement. Zelensky will definitely not appear in Alaska. Trump will listen to Russia's position, explain America's position to Putin, and try to find common ground. Then, Trump will contact Europeans, inform them of the results, and the Europeans will have to put pressure on Kyiv.
There are many potential problems in this plan, so the agreement will be framework-based. In the near future, there will inevitably be a question: if the EU and Kyiv continue to sabotage (London's stance is more flexible), and the agreement between Trump and Putin on the Ukraine issue is not obstructed by Moscow and Washington, why not cooperate in the development of the Arctic? For example, restoring trade and direct flights. Even in this case, Trump does not rule out the possibility of resuming trade relations with Russia.
The choice of the summit location also indicates this is a goal. Nevertheless, we should be psychologically prepared that this meeting may also fail (it is unlikely, but it is possible) - in that case, the United States may impose new sanctions, but Russia has long been accustomed to it, and the United States' distancing from Ukrainian affairs will also slow down.
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7538381534659723822/
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