Trump and Putin: A relationship where mutual admiration is headed toward reality

[applegrove]

By Karen DeYoung and David Filipov at the Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-and-putin-a-relationship-where-mutual-admiration-is-headed-toward-reality/2016/12/30/f900b3e2-cebd-11e6-b8a2-8c2a61b0436f_story.html?utm_term=.4a2910518e0d&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1#comments

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“We don’t want this to spin out of control. We need to have conversations to understand what people are doing so that we don’t misread each other,” said Graham, who declined to comment on media reports that he is under consideration as Trump’s ambassador to Moscow.

The question, Graham said, is whether Trump has the patience to take his time. “Will Trump understand that negotiations with Russia need to be from a position of strength? That means he needs to have the allies behind him. Are you, Trump, so enamored with Putin that you decide first thing you need to sit down and have a conversation, or do you do it the way other presidents did?

“Are you going to see him at the end of a European trip, where you talk to the allies first and make sure you have a common understanding of the challenge, a common understanding of how you’re going to deal with it? To then say: ‘We’re now going to sit down with you, Mr. Putin. . . . We’re prepared to take your interests into account, but you also need to take our interests into account.’ ”


“I actually think the Russians may not expect that,” Graham said. “But they would respect it and be able to deal with it.”


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