Alaska Meeting Was a Start, But Putin Still Up to His Old Tricks — and Trump Knows It

As the people of Ukraine know, neighborliness is not among Putin’s great qualities.

Still, it was with a reference to the US and Russia being neighbors that Putin kicked off his conversation with President Trump in Alaska yesterday.

On the red carpet at the airport he apparently said to Trump: “Good afternoon, dear neighbor. Very good to see you in good health and to see you alive.”

When relaying this at the joint press conference later on, the Russian president commented about his own earlier remarks: “I think that is very neighborly.”

Of course the two leaders were only meeting because of Putin’s lack of neighborly qualities.