Saudi-Russian Blowup Shows Putin Is a Lot Like Trump
The Russian leader’s foreign policy is transactional, shortsighted and often counterproductive. Sound familiar?
More alike than they know.
Photographer: Chris McGrath/Getty
It wasn’t so long ago that Vladimir Putin looked like the geopolitical kingpin of the Middle East. In recent weeks, though, Russia has absorbed two major setbacks: First, a falling out with Turkey over Syria, and second, the onset of a vicious oil price war with Saudi Arabia and its crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
It’s too soon to say that Putin is losing the Middle East, where geopolitics have become especially fluid and challenging. But these events remind us that some of Russia’s key relationships in the region are shallower and more transactional than they may appear. And that’s not just in the Middle East. Putin is sometimes seen as a master chess player, but his geopolitical approach is often shortsighted and, over the longer run, potentially counterproductive. In other words, his style of statecraft isn’t so different from President Donald Trump’s.