“I think this is kind of relearning the art of negotiating, the art of the deal in the Trump era,” he said. Trump’s unusual approach to negotiation was an advantage, he contended. “I think this is a New York property developer approach to setting the diplomatic negotiating agenda and keeping negotiating partners off balance.”

The U.S. team is not made up of experienced Russia experts, said Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, while Trump’s main Russia envoy, Witkoff, is a property developer and friend of the president.

God it’s so funny that they think that their skills in negotiating under an unfair capitalist system that rewards failsons can work for geopolitics. I truly believe alot of Trump’s actions can be understood as him acting as a shitty businessman. In america it works because we reward grifters all the time.

well duh. Russia has a stable diplomatic policy and team for multiple decades, allowing them to build up an experienced and competent corp of diplomats and statesmen. They have had to be agile and dodge western efforts to isolate and destroy and conquer them for decades.

Meanwhile you have a bunch of Trumpian oafs who think they know how the world works after watching FOX news and stumbling into office, with zero experience and zero understanding of how the world actually functions. Who have been handed everything their whole lives without any hardship or adversity.

Negotiations probably something like:

Russia: “привет, we hold all the cards. What do you want to discuss?”

US: “You suck, do what we want or we’ll be really mad.”

Russia: “Has this worked for you before?”

US: “Yeah, for like, decades.”

Russia: “But you held cards then, now we hold them.”

US: “Wait, you need to have teeth behind the threats?”

Russia: “You did not know this?”

US: “Well, we’ve been using tariffs.”

Russia: “Yes, this is not exactly subtle.”

US: “That’s teeth though, that’ll make people do what we want.”

Russia: “How in world did you topple Soviet Union?”

US: “That was past US, we’re still working on making it great again.”

Russia: “And you do this with tariffs?”

US: “Yes, the more, the better.”

Russia: “This is interesting foreign policy strategy.”

US: “Yeah, I learned it in New York from bullying tenants.”

Russia: “We are not tenant of US.”

US: “Yet.”

Russia: “I am ending call now.”

You’re telling me they outsmarted Marco Rubio?

Turns out when the only negotiating tactic you’ve done for the past 30 years is just demanding everyone obey you, you lose the ability to actually tactfully negotiate.

The Trump administration has twice claimed major progress in peace talks over the war between Russia and Ukraine

A sure sign that the U.S. is about to hang its most recent stooge out to dry: the disappearance of the once-mandatory “Putin’s unprovoked full scale invasion” descriptor.

The way this is written makes Russian diplomats seem like manipulative, nefarious villains. When really they’re just dog walking the Trump admin because they’re some of the best diplomats around. They are just built different, sorry doing their job is seen as infiltration.