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This story was first published by the Washington Examiner.
President Trump’s hope for a geopolitical detente with Russia was perhaps the most intriguing foreign policy position of the new U.S. administration.
At a first glance, the Kremlin also seemed to embrace the possibility of standing alongside its North American partner as both nations prepared to intensify their anti-terrorism campaigns and broaden cooperation in the sphere of Middle-Eastern security.
Suppressing bilateral hostilities between the two Cold War rivals, however, proved much more difficult than many observers initially speculated. In 12 short months, the flurry of cordial compliments between Trump and Putin quickly deteriorated into relentless verbal artillery that was forcefully backed by acute geopolitical stratagems.
What happened to Trump’s vision of friendship with Russia and how could such an optimistic plan of rebuilding Russo-American diplomacy trigger the worst period of bilateral relations since the collapse of the Soviet Union?
