Trump and Putin likely to meet in July.

Trump and Putin walk with each other. Getty/The Hill. 

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are likely to meet in July during Trump's European visit. The Hill. The plans aren't final but are likely to take place before Trump's meeting with NATO on July 11th and his visit to the United Kingdom on July 13th. Trump and Putin have a good relationship though Trump has criticized him in the past. Both men talk on the phone regularly. 

My Comment:

Rumor has it that this meeting will take place in Vienna. I'd prefer if it was at the White House or Kremlin. Not only would that be a more comfortable place for both men, it would drive the US media crazy. I'm also concerned about President Trump's safety in Europe and would feel better if he was in a safe place. 

Both men have a lot to talk about. Most obvious is the North Korea situation. Russia shares a border with North Korea but hasn't had a whole lot of influence on what is happening there. Putin probably wants to find out what the plan is from Donald Trump himself. Hopefully Russia can contribute to the peace deal. 

Syria will likely be on the agenda as well. Though the country is much calmer than it used to be there is still much to be discussed. The biggest question is what happens to America after ISIS is totally defeated. ISIS is hanging on by a thread but after they are gone what will we be doing there? My guess is that Iran's moves in the country will be a major factor as well. 

I also think that they will have other things to discuss as well. Ukraine is still a mess and there is always the European Union causing various problems. It's not like they are going to run out of things to talk about.  

I hope that this meeting will happen and that it will produce results. There is no reason for our relations with Russia to be this low. They have improved slightly over the past few months but before that they were about as low as our relations have been since the Cold War. We weren't as bad as some of the bad old days during the Cold War but since then it's never been worse.

The good news is that one of the major obstacles to a better relationship with Russia is the fact that the Russia collusion narrative is deader than a door nail. The IG report, though not as harsh as it should have been, has completely destroyed the collusion conspiracy theory. This means, in theory, that Trump can now meet with Putin without being attacked for it. In theory...