Dear Shadow Minister,

One can only hope.

However, if I was a betting person, I still wouldn't
like the odds as far as Mr Putin is concerned.

meanwhile the rest of the Arab world just watch and expect America to clean up the hellhole in Syria caused by warring factions.

Dear runner,

Mr Putin supports the Assad regime while America supports
the separatists - so it should make for interesting talks
between the two.

In any case the one that will benefit out of all this
- is the armaments industry. The
winner on both sides and human lives don't seem to matter
as long as big business and the oligarths line their pockets.

apologies for my typo.

It should be - oligarchs.

Trump's negotiating tactics are generally unorthodox for international negotiations but for example, China who has been using the WTO to pry open western markets while refusing to open its own has blinked in the face of potential tariffs to the US market.

Proof that in negotiations one needs the stick as well as the carrot.

Dear Shadow Minister,

I agree with you about the stick and the carrot.
But we're thinking like Westerners.

If the carrot being offered to Mr Trump
will be bigger than his stick, will Mr Trump still
use his stick or will he forego it. That is the
question. My bet is he will forego it. He, after all
likes only "good deals," which translate - to - if
he benefits. Money as they say in the US - "talks!

The conceptual differences
between democratic traditions and totalitarian systems
are so great that to me it is inconceivable that the
two would work for their mutual benefit in any matter
involving international political issues (don't even
mention human rights). The US would have to do a great
deal of acquiessing. But at what cost?