HALF-BAKED ALASKA: TRUMP, PUTIN LEAVE PEACE IN THE OVEN

Russian President Vladimir Putin crossed the International Date Line between Magadan in Russia and Alaska in the US. The journey was literally and metaphorically a transit from yesterday's isolation to a seat at the global high table.

- SHANKKAR AIYAR Author of The Gated Republic, Aadhaar: A Biometric History of India's 12 Digit Revolution, and Accidental India ([e-mail])

N Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin crossed the International Date Line between Magadan in Russia and Alaska in the US. The journey was literally and metaphorically a transit from yesterday's isolation to a seat at the global high table. Putin, who has survived five US presidents, registered a victory before he reached Alaska, and again as he teased the plausibility inviting Trump to Moscow. Time sort of stood still for US President Donald J Trump. While he called the détente an "extremely productive meeting", evidently the tide didn't quite move his agenda or his fortunes for the coveted Nobel Prize.

The sweet treat Baked Alaska—conjured up in a New York restaurant to commemorate the acquisition of Alaska by the US—is an apt analogy for the summit. The dessert consisting of a sponge cake base encased in meringue is torched briefly, but only just to allow the meringue to be caramelised before the ice cream melts. The Alaska summit served a half-baked Alaska as the aspiration for a ceasefire was left in the oven for another day. As for Ukraine, it is possible that Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said he "counted on America", would be disappointed that no good came of it and relieved that Ukraine survived the worst fears.