‘Not as bad as Trump inviting Taliban’: John Bolton at the top of Alaska, ‘Rogue leader Putin is welcomed in the US’ – Times of India

Former ambassador and President Donald Trump’s former NSA John Bolton said that the proposed top of Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on 15 August is a step in the direction of success for Moscow, not for peace talks. “The only better place for Putin than Alaska would be if the top in Moscow was held,” said Bolton during an appearance on CNN’s “The Bron” with host Kaitlan Collins. “So the first setup is, I think, a great victory for Putin.”“He is a rogue leader of a Paria state, and he will be welcomed in the United States,” he added and called Alaska “former Russian America.” “This is not as bad as Trump invites the Taliban to Camp David to talk about the peace negotiations in Afghanistan, but it certainly reminds it.” Trump later canceled the conversations with the Taliban in September 2019.Bolton said that the situation is now sliding very quickly in the direction of Russia. “We are not completely back on February 28, in the Oval Office, when Trump said [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zenskyy, “You don’t have any cards.” But what happens is that Russia and the United States discuss what conditions they will present to Zolensky, and it can be very good that Zenskyy has no choice here, “he added.” Vomiting is always a way to get a peace agreement.“Even without the meeting, Putin got his old magic back from Trump, Bolton said.“All that disappointment, all that outrage … Now you are talking about a deal between Trump and Putin? Think of the press that will be. I have to say, from the strategic perspective, from the importance of the US, this was not a good day,” said Bolton. When Kaitlan Collins pointed out that the meeting could not have taken place in Europe, because there is an international criminal CPURT command for his arrest, Bolton said that Vienna or Geneva could have organized the meeting. “They are in fact considered UN cities, and the ICC order could have been waived, and I don’t think anyone would have objected, frankly,” he said.“Russia keeps all the territory that it currently has, a demilitarized zone, perhaps with a peace force on the Ukrainian side, and Ukraine promises not to join NATO,” said Bolton. “If Ukraine agrees to a ceasefire -it is an effective agreement with its new border with Russia. I think this is a very dangerous point for Zenskyy and the Ukrainian government.”