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On his UK visit, the president gave Britons a glimpse of life after a hard Brexit: one of humiliation by a ruthless exploiter

Vladimir Putin must be dreading Monday’s edition of Komsomolskaya Pravda, Russia’s big and breezy tabloid. It will doubtless splash on an explosive interview with Donald Trump ahead of his visit to Moscow, in which the US president will slam Putin’s handling of the war in Syria, suggest US-Russian relations are doomed and lavish praise on the Russian leader’s “very talented” rival. Poor Vladimir must be quaking in his boots.

Oh wait. No interview like that is coming, and not only because Putin would never allow it. Trump himself wouldn’t dare speak so harshly of his Russian counterpart, just as he only ever has words of comfort and admiration for Xi Jinping of China, Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia and, these days, Kim Jong-un of North Korea. When he meets tyrants and dictators, Trump – the great disruptor, the supposedly fearless straight talker – suddenly remembers his manners. If the hand he’s shaking belongs to a strongman, he bows and scrapes, unctuously deferential to the diplomatic niceties and protocols.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Jk4CMd