Trump-Putin ‘talks’ in focus as leaders crowd Paris event

Bloomberg

So many world leaders came to the French capital on Sunday to commemorate the end of World War I that organisers had to use buses to move them around. But the focus was on whether two of the 69 — Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin — would find time to get together amid the ceremonies.
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the visitors to Paris on a wet Sunday morning for events at the Arc de Triomphe and the Elysee Palace. Macron and Trump said
they’d patched up differences over a twitter tussle at a meeting on Saturday, but the showy friendliness of their past encounters was replaced by a stiffer interaction.
For Macron, the commemoration of the 1918 Armistice that brought an end to what at its time was Europe’s deadliest war is meant to underline the importance of international cooperation, a value now questioned by Trump as well as populist leaders across Europe.
“Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism,” Macron said in his speech to the other leaders. “Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism.”
In a symbolic display of unity, Macron led most of the leaders up a red carpet to the Arc de Triomphe under the heavy rain. Trump, who has called himself a nationalist, arrived separately in his own motorcade, as did Putin.
The two shook hands briefly at the start of the ceremony, with the Russian leader flashing a thumbs-up.
Trump on Saturday skipped a planned visit to a US military ceremony because of bad weather, sparking a storm of criticism for what some saw as disrespect to veterans. The US president was also planning to skip the Peace Forum his host was organising later on Sunday. Trump is scheduled to visit another military cemetery before departing on Sunday.
As the other leaders gathered in the morning, Trump tweeted about the devastating wildfires in California, criticising local officials for poor forest management. Putin was planning to attend the Peace Forum, but there was no word yet on whether he would get the chance for the meeting with Trump that his aides had been announcing in recent weeks. The Russian president is hoping his personal ties with Trump, who regularly touts their good relationship, will at some point yield a softening of the US approach to his country.
So far, however, the tensions have only built, with the US imposing new rounds of sanctions and vowing to pull out of a Cold War disarmament treaty.
Publicly, the Kremlin has played down the possible absence of a sit-down with Trump, saying the two leaders will have time for talks in a few weeks at the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires.
The White House has also been cool about bringing the two leaders together amid the political pressure in Washington over alleged Russian meddling in US elections.
The White House is eager to avoid a repeat of the controversy that blew up the last time they met.
In Helsinki in July, Trump’s apparent acceptance of Putin’s denials Russia had intervened in the vote over the
conclusions of US intelligence triggered a wave of criticism in Washington and a push for new sanctions in Congress.
Since then, the US has sent National Security Adviser John Bolton for two rounds of talks with Russian officials, but the only deal announced publicly was a vague agreement for the two leaders to meet again next year, possibly in Washington.
Russian officials said the French had been the ones to ask that no separate Trump-Putin meeting be arranged on Sunday in order not to distract from the solemn commemorations.