Dictators

Watching Biden deal with Putin is mindful of how naive US presidents are when it comes to foreign relations. In the US, presidents must contend with the congress and the courts and are only elected for four years but in China, Russia, Iran and North Korea the leaders are dictators and in power for life. US presidents think they can negotiate and these foreign leaders up front but history shows us the dictators have no reason to be truthful. They will say whatever is necessary at the table but their word has no meaning. Just looking at Putin the past few years. He set up land grabs Ukraine and Georgia, pushed a military invasion in Syria, hacked computers around the world including the US election and poisoned political enemies. He is rewarded with a sit down with the US president and given the gas line to Europe. In the past year the price of oil has gone up $20 per barrel and oil represents 40% of Russia's economy. Russia produces 10 million barrels a day and this mean an extra $200 million dollars per day. Putin is one of the richest people in the world with a worth estimated at $200 billion and he has assets around the globe that the US could freeze. Doing this is something Putin understands and would get his attention. Each new president believes that he can deal with these dictators but they have failed. As one commentator put it Putin is playing chess and the rest of the world is playing checkers.