Putin’s ＂Opposite Play＂ with Five American Leaders

　　Author: Xiang Changhe, a scholar of international issues

　　Recently, the leaders of the two major countries, the United States and Russia, have been "on the bar" again. The first to stir up trouble is the newly appointed US President Biden, who openly called Russian President Putin a "killer" in an interview with the media. It is extremely rare for the president of one country to publicly call the president of another country a "killer".

　　Russia reacted strongly. Putin responded with words: "I wish him good health!" Chairman of the Russian State Duma issued a statement: "Putin is our president, and attacking him is an attack on our country." Russia recalled its ambassador to the United States-the last time Russia recalled its ambassador to the United States was when the West launched an air strike against Iraq in 1998.

　　The confrontation between Putin and the new president of the United States seems to indicate the beginning of a new round of resentment drama. Since he came to power at the turn of the century, Putin has been in charge of Russia for more than 20 years, and has fought against five American presidents, including Clinton, George W. Bush, who fought two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Obama, who advocated a "nuclear-free world", Trump and Biden, who claimed to have been friends with Putin for a long time. Putin’s "opponents" with these American presidents are ups and downs, which can completely shoot Hollywood hit dramas for several seasons.

　　The most impressive scene of Putin VS Clinton is Clinton’s visit to Russia. A few months after Putin came to power, Clinton, at the end of his term, paid a three-day visit to Russia. Putin and Clinton met and had dinner in the Kremlin, and they had a long informal conversation. Later, Putin invited Clinton to visit his office and lounge, and attended a concert at the Kremlin Theatre. Formally speaking, the two are very close. Putin said that he had established a "good working relationship and personal relationship" with Clinton, but in the end, the two sides failed to achieve a "breakthrough" on the key issue of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. This is indeed a great pity for Clinton, who is in the final stage of his presidency.

　　Putin and George W. Bush are strangers, and "soul dialogue" is a classic scene that is often mentioned from both positive and negative aspects. At the beginning of taking office, George W. Bush, who was still a novice in diplomacy, gave Putin a scare: expelling 50 Russian diplomats for espionage. However, the turning point happened unexpectedly. In June 2001, Putin and George W. Bush met for the first time in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Putin told the story of a cross: Putin’s mother left him a wooden cross, and then his home caught fire, and all other things were burned out, except this cross. George W. Bush, who was deeply religious, was moved and made his famous remark at the press conference after the meeting: "Looking directly into Putin’s eyes, I can feel his soul. He is a trustworthy person. "

　　A few months later, when the "September 11th Incident" broke out, George W. Bush received a phone call from Putin aboard Air Force One. Putin was the first foreign head of state to call after the terrorist attack. After that, Russia supported the United States to start the war in Afghanistan, including allowing the United States to use Russian airspace. In return, on November 14th, 2001, Mr. and Mrs. Putin were invited to visit Bush’s private ranch in Texas. Since the new century, the best friend between Putin and George W. Bush has been the highest time in the interaction between US and Russian leaders. During George W. Bush’s eight years in power, he held more than 30 bilateral meetings with Putin, and Russia-US relations also gained substantial results. Russia and the United States signed a new Treaty on the Reduction of Strategic Offensive Arms, and a mechanism dialogue was also launched between Russia and NATO.

　　Putin and Obama didn’t look at each other at all. The most typical example was the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landing in 2014. Obama didn’t even want to get too close to Putin when taking photos with him. When Obama came to power, Putin was nominally prime minister, and the White House tried to "restart" US-Russian relations by bypassing Putin. This seems to have worked for a time-signing a civil nuclear agreement and ratifying a new nuclear disarmament treaty. However, the good times did not last long. After Putin regained the presidency in 2012, he first provided shelter to Snowden, the "Prism Gate" exposer, and then publicly challenged the West in the Ukrainian crisis and incorporated Crimea into Russia without bloodshed. Obama led the expulsion of Russia from the Group of Eight, wooed western allies to impose sanctions on Russia, and the two sides fought proxy war endlessly in Syria.

　　Before Trump entered the White House, he expressed his appreciation and admiration to Putin from a distance, but until the end of Trump’s term, he failed to turn the "heroes cherish each other" between private individuals into a warm relationship between Russia and the United States. From the day he entered the White House, the sword of Damocles, "TongRumen", tossed Trump badly, not only damaging many main generals, but also suffering from impeachment. American public opinion has always suspected that Trump and Russia are tricky, and even the overtime talks with President Putin are suspected of "treason". Therefore, in order to avoid suspicion, Trump never fulfilled his promise to engage in a "Pute meeting" on American soil, but also expelled Russian diplomats and sealed up consulates, deliberately showing toughness towards Russia. In the past four years, the United States has expanded its sanctions against Russia, from Ukraine to Syria, to chemical weapons to "Beixi -2", and there is a feeling of overcorrection.

　　The feud between Putin and Biden has been going on for years-Biden famously said that the soul could not be seen through Putin’s eyes when he visited Russia as the vice president of the United States 10 years ago. Obviously, Biden borrowed the stem of George W. Bush to show his attitude of "not catching a cold" towards Russia. A few days after he took office in the White House, Biden "fired shots" on relations with Russia-"We are very worried about their behavior …" A day later, Biden and Putin made the first phone call, which once again strengthened this position. Recently, in addition to personal attacks on Putin, the United States announced at the government level that it would impose sanctions on all entities involved in the "Beixi -2" project.

　　In short, the "war of words" between Biden and Putin means the beginning of a new round of strategic game between the United States and Russia, and the following story may be wonderful.