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Trump-Putin meet can break traditional blocs

Trump, in essence, bestowed on an unpopular political figure the status of a venerable statesman.

The past week has been disruptive as far as US foreign policy is concerned. President Donald Trump took a major risk not just by appearing side by side with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, but by praising Russia, his country's greatest geopolitical foe and a country which has remained hostile to the basic values and ideals that the US upholds. The 'feel-good' summit was in sharp contrast to the antagonistic way he treated his traditional allies on his way to Finland - he derided UK Prime Minister Theresa May, needled German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and estranged his Nato allies. And he was more inclined towards believing Putin's statement that Moscow did not interfere in the 2016 elections, contradicting the US intelligence agencies' conclusion that it did.
The Russian president came out as the winner. He shared the stage with the friendliest American president in his nearly 20 years as Russia's leader, and scored PR victories by portraying Russia as a restored superpower. Trump, in essence, bestowed on an unpopular political figure the status of a venerable statesman.
Notwithstanding the camaraderie, there is nothing that the Russian president won in the form of concrete concessions - no allowance on the annexation of Crimea, no revoking of economic sanctions, no compromise on the Iran nuclear deal, no readmission into the G8, no headway in reduction of nuclear arsenals and no cooperation in Syria. According to Putin, Syria could have been the first example of a successful joint effort, but as long as Russia supports the Assad regime and the United States backs the rebel faction, it is anybody's guess if there is any room for cooperation there.
It remains to be seen if the new-found friendship will last, but for now Trump has sowed chaos both domestically and internationally. Trump decided to give the US intelligence a miss, running the country's foreign policy on impulse. American leadership in global politics seems directionless and at stake. Putin, in fact, used Trump and the summit for his mission to rattle the all-weather US-Europe alliance formed after World War II.