John Bolton shakes hands with Putin with gritted teeth

When you are America's national security adviser, you have to do what your boss orders you to do. I'm sure Donald Trump didn't have to tell John Bolton to shake Putin's hand but I bet he said something along the lines of, "Be nice to Putin". Bolton is a solid, unforgiving Cold War hawk who, if given a chance would probably prefer to go three rounds in the boxing ring with the Russian leader. Although he would lose of course because Putin looks a lot more macho than Bolton with his silly moustache. But as Trump's representative to talk to Putin and Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, about a summit beween the two leaders next month, Bolton was all smiles and handshakes. I don't know why Trump sent Bolton rather than Mike Pompeo to Moscow but it might have been out of a sense of mischief. "Hey, Vladimir, I'm sending you the man who hates you. Try and get him to love you and it'll make my job easier to get our relations warmed up. Don't tell him I said that, Vlad." Putin duly shook Bolton's hand and although he wasn't looking into his eyes at the time, he did actually manage a sort of smile. So, all is well. There'll be lots of friendly chats and hohoho's about Robert Mueller and the "witchhunt" and Bolton will return to DC full of hope and confidence that the planned summit will begin a new era. Obama tried to "reset" relations with Russia and it worked for a bit but then it all went wrong when Putin began throwing his weight around, sending troops to Crimea to annexe it and bring it back into the Russian fold, and "invaded" eastern Ukraine. Trump, it seems, is prepared to put all that to one side and to get friendly with Putin. Bolton must have had gritted teeth throughout his time with Putin, but he was under orders to get the summit fixed, never mind about Crimea. It's too late for Crimea, that's a done deal, Putin got away with that. But eastern Ukraine has got to be on the table at the summit. So too does meddling in US elections and Russian military support for Assad in Syria. If Bolton has managed to get these topics on the agenda, then the summit could be a positive event. Putin will have enjoyed his time spent with Bolton. Inwardly he would have been chuckling to himself and loving every moment as Bolton squirmed in his seat. And Bolton would have known that. Yes, I reckon Trump chose Bolton ahead of Pompeo for the Moscow assignment deliberately! Hohoho.