By TN Ashok,
New York
August 14, 2025.
http://youtube.com/@theflagpost
When Donald Trump meets Vladimir Putin this Friday at an Air Force base in Anchorage, Alaska, the stakes will be nothing short of historic. Officially billed by the White House as “a listening exercise,” the summit risks looking more like a one-way monologue — with Putin doing the talking and Trump taking notes.
This is no neutral diplomatic stopover. Anchorage, chosen for its security and symbolism, sits at the crossroads of U.S.-Russian history. It’s the first time Putin has set foot on U.S. soil since the war in Ukraine began, and for Moscow, the optics are priceless: a handshake with the American president, broadcast worldwide, restoring an image of legitimacy battered by sanctions and battlefield losses.
For Trump, the meeting is a gamble wrapped in ambition. He has publicly floated the Nobel Peace Prize as a prize for ending the Ukraine war — and the Anchorage summit is his biggest chance yet to make good on the “art of the deal” promise. The problem? Trump has already hinted that peace may require Ukraine to cede territory to Russia, a red line Kyiv and th European Union refuse to cross. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made clear his constitution forbids it, and EU leaders have warned against any arrangement struck without Ukraine at the table.
Putin knows this, and he knows Trump wants a win. That gives Moscow leverage to play for time — offering symbolic gestures or vague promises while pocketing the propaganda victory of being seen as America’s indispensable negotiating partner. Russia’s track record in previous venues like Helsinki and Turkey shows how easily such summits can become hollow exercises in optics.
If Trump walks away with nothing concrete, the consequences could be severe. Six months into his presidency, the man who vowed to end the Ukraine war “on day one” would face a blow to his credibility at home and abroad. Allies would question Washington’s commitment to standing by its partners. Adversaries would take note that a U.S. president can be drawn into talks that produce more headlines than substance.
But if Anchorage yields even the framework of a deal acceptable to Kyiv — perhaps a phased ceasefire or an internationally monitored arrangement for disputed regions — Trump could rewrite the narrative. He would not only revive U.S. credibility in peace-brokering but also hand himself a powerful political win in an election season already dominated by foreign policy crises.
Anchorage matters because it is more than just a meeting. It is a convergence of ambition, prestige, and geopolitical calculation. For Trump, it is a test of whether his deal making persona can survive the glare of global stakes. For Putin, it is a chance to show he cannot be sidelined. And for the rest of the world, it is a moment of truth on whether great-power diplomacy can still deliver peace — or whether, once again, it will deliver only photographs.
