(CNN)Rarely has a presidential summit between the United States and Russia been so badly needed yet so spectacularly undermined by timing and circumstance.
But there has also never been a chapter in the long history of superpower showdowns and historic Cold War-ending negotiations to match the surreal nature of Monday’s encounter between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Their talks will unfold amid the neo-classical splendor of the presidential palace in Helsinki in a dramatic coda to an overseas tour in which the President has dressed down US allies, been charmed by a meeting with Queen Elizabeth II and continued to rage over the ongoing Russia investigation, just days after the US Justice Department’s indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence agents for election tampering.
There are multiple reasons why it’s good for the two Presidents to talk given critical national security issues including the war in Syria, North Korea, fraying arms control agreements and the desperate state of relations between two nuclear powers with the capacity to wipe out humanity.
If they make progress against expectations, then the President’s critics may have to eat their words. Even if the talks unfreeze lower level dialogue, they may be worthwhile.
Yet worthy diplomatic openings will pale against the mind-boggling spectacle of the most unusual US-Russia summit in history.
After all, Trump will sit down with the man accused of masterminding an audacious election meddling operation in order to put him into office, days after the indictment of Russian intelligence operatives by his own Justice Department, in the Robert Mueller-led probe the US President has branded a “witch hunt.”
It’s not even clear that Trump will upbraid Putin over such a brazen assault on American sovereignty and democracy — despite being given considerable leverage by the staggering indictments.
“I go in with very low expectations. I think that getting along with Russia is a good thing, but it’s possible that we won’t,” Trump told CBS News in an interview broadcast Sunday.
It’s not surprising therefore that Democrats and some Republicans question why the summit is still on, especially given the administration’s failure to provide a clear sense of the agenda and possible deliverables of a confab Trump has craved for months.
There are fears in Washington that the winging-it US President will cough up big concessions in a comprehensive mismatch with the wily and prepared Russian veteran.
Trump’s insistence on a one-on-one meeting with Putin without senior aides present has refocused intrigue on his odd relationship with a strongman he never criticizes and fueled speculation he is somehow beholden to the former KGB agent and intelligence chief.
It’s also curious that Trump often appears more in tune with Putin’s views than those of his own government on Crimea, the unity of the Western alliance, the special counsel probe and democratic bedrocks like press freedom and international institutions.
Given the inauspicious atmosphere, it’s unlikely that any other President would still be meeting Putin. Trump’s decision to press ahead anyway has left US officials floundering.
Before Trump left for Europe, US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman said: “I think the fact that we’re having a summit at this level, at this time in history, is a deliverable in itself.”
“It isn’t a…
