Well, John Helmer’s report of an in person meeting between Trump and Putin in Abu Dhabi on May 15th or 16th did not pan out.
I don’t know if Helmer’s sources were faulty or if it was really believed that this might happen but circumstances changed in such a way as to nix the meeting. Trump had mentioned the possibility recently of meeting Putin and then said he wasn’t going to right now. It’s possible this was a result of Trump’s impulsivity.
Interestingly, my former editor at RT told me, without elaboration, that Helmer was not a credible person and made me remove him as a source on a proposed piece I wrote back in 2021. Other people knowledgeable about Russia have said they think he is a credible journalist.
I know that he has managed to tick off both western establishment types and some in the Russian government. I typically think it bodes well for a journalist if they piss off everyone.
In any event, this purported meeting did not happen and we’re left to speculate.
I’ve been watching the Dialogue Works discussions between McGovern and Helmer and have found these interesting. Helmer is certainly an independent thinker with very decided views stridently expressed. I decided to do a little research on Helmer. Wikipedia states that he is a born 1946, and is a PolySci grad from Harvard, has been based in Moscow since 1989, and was married to another Australian foreign correspondent. My next step was to watch an old interview Helmer gave in the mid-1990’s in his own office to a dutch interviewer that was posted 17 years ago on the YT channel Arezvanov (it’s the only content on that channel actually so someone forgot his YT password). This interview impressed upon me that Helmer knows a thing or two about Russia and his views should be taken into account.
I’ve only been reading his blog but I have the feeling that he is very strong on Russian business but may not have the same sources and encyclopedic knowledge in recent politics.
I still take him seriously in the political arena.