We cannot know for certain what Trump and Putin agreed upon in their private, unrecorded meeting in Finland. That they did agree on something, is clear:
“The Russian Defense Ministry is ready for practical implementation of the agreements in the sphere of international security reached by Russian and U.S. presidents, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump,” said Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jul/17/moscow-press-us-cooperation-syria-says-russian-mil/
If we observe Putin’s public comments at the summit, it is possible to deduce some of the topics that were likely discussed and in the case of certain geo-political topics, we can assume what some of their agreements probably were; particularly if we cross-reference Putin’s comments with stated Trump administration positions/ proposals.
Trump’s comments after their private meeting were garbage per usual- teleprompter Trump with some word-salad tossed in. But Putin…I think this was quite purposefully organized not only to bring the presumption of weight and depth to what it was that had been discussed, but also to signal what is about to happen.
What I read from Putin’s statements, I see an agreement similar (but not nearly as huge and complex) to the Sykes-Picot agreement between France and England of 1916, which has directly lead to much of the continual conflict in the Middle East in it’s boneheaded lack of understanding of the region. And like that agreement, the Kurds will once again be caught in no man’s land and the result will be similarly catastrophic.
Syria and Israel:
“We have to look for points of contact and interact closer in a variety of international fora. Clearly, we mentioned the regional crisis, for instance Syria. As far as Syria is concerned, the task of establishing peace and reconciliation in this country could be the first showcase example of this successful joint work.
Russia and the United States apparently can act proactively and take – assume the leadership on this issue and organize the interaction to overcome humanitarian crisis and help Syrian refugees to go back to their homes. In order to accomplish this level of successful cooperation in Syria, we have all the required components.
Let me remind you that both Russian and American military acquired a useful experience of coordination of their actions, established the operational channels of communication, which permit it to avoid dangerous incidents and unintentional collisions in the air and in the ground.
Also crushing terrorists in the south west of Syria – the south of Syria – should be brought to the full compliance with the Treaty of 1974 about the separation of forces, about separation of forces of Israel and Syria.
This will bring peace to Golan Heights and bring a more peaceful relationship between Syria and Israel and also to provide security of the state of Israel.”
Although not clear to Trump, it is certainly clear to his advisors the hypocrisy of perpetually bashing immigrants, yet standing idly by while a humanitarian crisis continues day after day in Syria. So, Trump is informed he must tell Putin to get this shit over with. I seriously doubt it ever occurred to Putin to ask for US forces to assist in the rapid conclusion of Assad’s hostility against his own people, but he must have told Trump that Syria/Russia/Iran needed some time to get this in order. So their “useful experience of coordination,” is the US staying out of the way and not making a big stink about the forthcoming extermination.
I am supposing the agreement was- get the killing done fast and don’t let this bleed over into Israel. That’s the deal. Russia will speed up the crushing of all civilian resistance, Trump gets assurances that Russia will hold the leash on Iran whom are already encroaching on the Golan Heights. We will know this is the agreement if we see Iran step down very soon. It has to be soon, because it’s very close to open hostilities right now.
Collateral Damage: They have absolutely no intention of assisting in the returning of Syrian refugees to Syria. It doesn’t do Trump’s PR campaign of bashing the EU and immigrants any good; it doesn’t do Bashar al-Assad any good to have those people returned in any orderly fashion.
In this deal, Syria is Russia’s and Israel is the US, of course. So what happens to the Kurds? What do you think? What do you think Trump would say if Putin brought up the Kurds? he doesn’t give a fuck. Go on. Kill them all. You’re going to have to sooner or later anyway. Arrange it with Turkey. The Kurds are between a rock and a hard place. Kill them all.
Ukraine:
“While we discussed the internal Ukrainian crisis, we paid special attention to the bona fide implementation of Minsk Agreements by Kiev.
At the same time, the United States could be more decisive and nudging the Ukrainian leadership and encourage it to work actively on this.”
Clearly this is an outline that Putin expects the US to exert pressure on Ukraine to resume cease-fire (which I guess means- don’t shoot back at the Russians?), and relent any claim to Crimea. Putin no doubt asked Trump to see his way to removing sanctions and recognizing Crimea as wholly Russia’s. Whether or not Putin suggested he would take all of Ukraine…well, we’re not going to know that until we see it, are we.
Trump already paid Ukraine in some armaments in exchange for dropping their investigation into Paul Manafort as well as ceasing cooperating with the Mueller investigation, so it’s a bit complicated to allow Russia to go further.
Joint effort to promote a synergistic US/Russian Oligarchy:
I’m not kidding. Tax reform did exactly jack-shit to inspire US companies to expand within the US, what it did was give them some juicy liquidity and bumped stock prices to go out into the world and acquire. Nothing would make Trump happier than a full blown, Putin-style authoritarian oligarchy and this kind of shit is actually outlined by the Trump administration proposed massive reshaping of the Federal Government.
See? Instead of global social initiatives, why can’t we figure out a way to grease the wheels of unhindered, free-flowing (albeit corrupt) enterprise? I am highly confident Trump floated such ideas to Putin and Putin was highly receptive.
Putin:
“The American delegation was one of the largest delegations in the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. It featured over 500 representatives from American businesses.
We agreed, me and President Trump, we agreed to create the high level working group that would bring together captains of Russian and American business. After all, entrepreneurs and businessmen know better how to articulate this successful business cooperation. We’ll let them think and make their proposals and their suggestions in this regard.”
Surveillance State:
I am certain that Trump and Putin talked about their mutual desire to create a high-tech surveillance state in the US possibly in connection with Russian assistance. This topic has come up again and again in Trump’s actions. The ill-fated “Election Integrity Commission,” His attempt to hire Brunell to oversee the Census Bureau, and most recently, again in the Trump administrations Proposed reshaping of the US Federal Government. From my review of that proposal:
Consolidate the Census Bureau with other governmental data analysis entities. A truly dreadful idea. There’s a reason why the Census Bureau has a firewall of rules and protective laws around it, to prevent the very thing that this administration would like to do with that data. the justification, once again is “cost effectiveness,” and “synergies,” all while protecting us from the burdens.
The census was created purely to count what is, nothing else. It’s not data that should be federally combined and cross-referenced with anything else and data-mined for any governmental purpose. Where that would lead to is some truly dark places.
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Also, from my “unhinged,” Hannity-esque Grand Conspiracy post back in February, I deduced that a desire to observe and control the US electorate is the one for-sure thing that Putin and Trump have in common. It is one place where their individual desires absolutely overlap. With some technical help from Theil’s company Palantir (the one of Snowden fame), it is a possibility.
This would be the easiest enterprise for the US government and citizenry to recognize and resist, so it is highly unlikely to happen, but I guarantee you they talked about it.
Putin:
“Any specific material, if such things arise, we are ready to analyze together. For instance, we can analyze them through the joint working group on cyber security, the establishment of which we discussed during our previous contacts.”
“And we have to engage experts on bilateral relationship, who know history and the background of our relationship. The idea is to create an expert council that would include political scientists, prominent diplomats and former military experts from both countries, who would look for points of contact between the two countries, that would look for ways on putting the relationship on the trajectory of growth”
Trump:
“He offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators, with respect to the 12 people. I think that’s an incredible offer. Ok? Thank you.”
Although this quote is specifically about the Mueller investigation, it is not hard to imagine they were discussing sharing resources and intelligence.
Finally, I believe they may have discussed Putin going after some more of his enemies via assassinations. Or maybe some of Trump and Putin’s common enemies? That just seems likely, doesn’t it? In that light- I don’t feel that your life is any more secure than it has been, Bill Browder. I hate to say, your days are numbered my friend. I don’t doubt Putin asked Trump to extradite you the next time you’re in the US. It probably won’t go down that way, but you’re enemy #1 Bill.
7/18 UPDATE:
For fucks sake.
100 Percent True 