Trump-Putin summit

Re: Having a ball in Helsinki, July 17

President Trump has become the worst nightmare for America’s allies. He feels no guilt related to separating children from parents, insulting U.S. allies and their leaders, and even demeaning an American Hero like Republican Senator John McCain, who is battling brain cancer.

Trump’s NATO meeting in Europe, and his visit to Britain, has seen him insult German Chancellor Angela Merkel regarding her immigration policies and undermine British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit policies.

Was Trump going to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their Helsinki meeting?

Would Trump ask Putin about Russia’s interference in the U.S. elections, his invasion of Crimea, his support of Syria’s ruthless President Assad, or the indictment of 12 Russian officers for DNC hacking?

Sadly, when Trump was asked in Helsinki by the news media, about Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, he stated he believed Putin’s strong denial of interference, rather than the reports from his own U.S. intelligence agencies.

Trump’s compliments, his support of a tyrant like Vladimir Putin, has shocked the world, while Trump has no problem insulting U.S. allies, who have supported the U.S. in both war and peace! Peter J Middlemore Sr., Windsor, Ont.

While some commenters, opposed to Trump, may insinuate that he put America last in his meetings with Putin because he considered the meddling by the FBI and CIA in the 2016 election in favour of Hillary Clinton to be more significant than the alleged hacking of the Democrat Party servers by Russian interests, Trump is right to maintain a cordial relationship with Russia to maintain peace because Russia possesses formidable nuclear arms and can help in cooling hot spots like Syria and the Korean Peninsula.

Furthermore, some U.S. establishment players have mounted a multi-pronged attack to question the legitimacy of Trump’s election victory. President Trump is right to point out the stupidity of such moves because they hamstring him in conducting international diplomacy for making America great again. Jiti Khanna, Vancouver

After looking at the news conference of U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, I was disappointed Putin didn’t take more responsibility for his country’s meddling in the U.S. election in 2016.

Trump, on the other hand could’ve expressed more leadership in calling out Russia’s influencing the outcome of the election.

That said, when former president Obama travelled to a number of countries, apologizing for the U.S.’s past mistakes in foreign policy decisions, he received a lot of criticism from many angry Republicans.

Time will tell if more GOP members will point out Trump missed chance to criticize Putin, because that was a golden opportunity missed on Trump’s part. Paul Watkins, Calgary

I know Trump seems to be a lout.

I find the outrage over his comments in Russia understandable and yet silly.

I want a world where

normal is better than outrage, where old assumptions can be done away with. But maybe the current U.S. president is making us think differently about our group think assumptions and actions. Maybe the world seems crazy to us now, but if we give up group think, perhaps we can find a path.

Russia is not perfect. The current leader is scary to be sure, but he is not Stalin. The U.S. is not either perfect. Its leaders are normally opaque. Currently the fellow is opaque to himself and transparent to everyone else. And we all know that what he says is a squishy truth stream of consciousness at best.

Perhaps the time of old perfect enemy stereotypes is over. Perhaps we can deal with much less than ideal matters by not expecting perfection. Kennedy was not perfect nor King but we ended up in a better world. Allies are allies to be sure, but they can be foes economically and philosophically one supposes or in other ways, without being governance and well being war threats.

Leave outrage and hyperbole to others, let us act with self control. John Van Egmond, Brampton, Ont.

My, my, my! So President Donald Trump believes Putin when he says that Russia wasn’t involved in efforts to interfere with the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. What next? An announcement that Trump has just purchased the Brooklyn Bridge. Garth M. Evans, Vancouver