WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Trump and Putin got their direct relationship off to a good start in the telephone conversation on Saturday, marking an "auspicious start" for bilateral cooperation, Jim Jatras observed.
"It’s an auspicious start," Jatras said on Monday. "More important than any particular topic is the evident willingness on both sides to improve ties and strategic cooperation. This itself is a sea-change from the overt hostility to Russia that characterized the Obama administration."
"The first item on the agenda clearly is Syria. This is a venue where Washington-Moscow cooperation against radical Islamic terrorism can bear early fruit to the benefit of both countries, and for the Middle East region and the world," he stated.
Jatras noted that, to the dismay of some of his supporters, Trump had included "safe zones" for civilians inside Syria among his proposals.
The new safe zone proposal discussed by Trump and Putin was a different and far more constructive one.
"As Foreign Minister [Sergei] Lavrov has noted, Moscow regards the Trump proposal as totally different. Russia has expressed its willingness to work with the US on such zones as long as they are approved by the Security Council and given legal status by the Syrian government," he said.
The zones needed to be recognized as a means "to facilitate Syrians’ reintegration into post-war society, not as a pretext for partition," he explained.
Jatras compared Russia’s willingness to work with Trump on the new "safe zones’ proposal with Moscow’s willingness to cooperate with the Obama administration in 2013 to make sure Syria retained no chemical weapons.
"Superficially, the positive Russian response is similar to Moscow’s surprise acceptance of former Secretary of State [John] Kerry’s… suggestion in 2013 that Syria give up its chemical weapons. However, I suspect this time… the US-Russia dialogue was choreographed," he said.
Finally, Jatras cautioned that while the positive tone in the conversation and on the Syria issue reflected Trump’s own beliefs and goals, anti-Russian prejudice is sadly still far too evident in much of official Washington.
