Starting with red carpets, military fly-overs and shared limo rides and ending with a stage-managed media appearance next to a fawning Donald Trump, the Alaskan summit was, regrettably, a victory for the world’s leading autocrat, Vladimir Putin, and a loss for democracy. As a result, whether it’s to defend their ally, Ukraine, or their own place in the world, the leaders of the West, including Australia, now have no choice but to act for democratic values.

Putin and Trump: allies in autocracy.Credit: Marija Ercegovac

If Putin had a wishlist, Russia’s 21st century tsar can now check off a list of desired items: an elevated place on the world stage and recognition as a global player, an end to years of isolation of the Russian Federation, photo-ops fully curated for his propaganda, withdrawal of the threat of more sanctions, deflection of responsibility for the war onto Ukraine. Not a bad outing for an indicted war criminal who has systematically waged war on a small neighbour for more than 10 years, destroyed thousands of its schools and hospitals, reduced some of its towns and cities into urban deserts of ruin and rubble and kidnapped 20,000 of its children (for which the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant).

And, perhaps, most importantly from his perspective, Putin flew back to Moscow without any commitment to end his unilateral, illegal and brutal war against Ukraine. Quite the contrary, he was given a spotlit stage on which to repeat – without objection or even comment from Trump – his hegemonic demands that Ukraine........

© The Sydney Morning Herald