RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/WAR: “President Trump on Thursday [11-29-18] abruptly canceled his planned meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, citing the unresolved naval standoff between Russia and Ukraine and upending his hopes of further cementing the relationship between the two leaders. The president’s decision, announced on Twitter barely an hour after he told reporters he still expected to go through with the meeting, came shortly after new revelations that Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer had negotiated to build a tower in Moscow much later during the 2016 presidential election than previously acknowledged. The last-minute cancellation underscored just how fraught the Russian-American relationship has grown despite the president’s concerted efforts to make friends, as the Kremlin increasingly asserts itself overseas while Washington is absorbed by the investigation into ties between Mr. Trump’s circle and Moscow.”
–Neil MacFarquhar, “Russia-Ukraine Fight Over Narrow Sea Passage Risks Wider War,” The New York Times online, November 29, 2018