Let us be blunt: The Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska was an embarrassment and very likely will prove to be a disaster.

The hype proceeding the summit stressed that the first step in ending the Ukraine war was a cease-fire. President Trump probably anticipated more than gaining only some agreement on Ukraine.

Otherwise, the Treasury secretary and U.S. business leaders would not have been present anticipating deals with Russian counterparts.

The optimism was palpable. Stage managed from the beginning, at least according to Fox News, the president ordered F-35 Lightning fighters lined up on the runway, and a B-2 flyover escorted by F-22’s to impress his counterpart.

Much of this advice probably came from his envoy, Steve Witkoff, who met Putin in Moscow and was in frequent contact with key Russians. Witkoff’s business was real estate. As the Economist notes, he was a foreign policy neophyte who misread or was misled by what he heard in Moscow.

Not only did the........

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