'Great benefit': How a Trump-Putin summit may lead to Greenland, Panama Canal handover

With President Donald Trump back in office, the United States' approach to Russian President Vladimir Putin is already remarkably warmer. And a proposed summit between Trump and Putin could result in Trump getting some of his biggest wishes fulfilled.

In a Wednesday analysis, Daily Beast chief national correspondent David Gardner wrote about the prospect of a summit in Fiji between Trump, Putin and possibly even Chinese President Xi Jinping during Trump's second term. Garnder pointed to a 2024 Vanity Fair article by Russian opposition journalist Mikhail Zygar, who wrote that a potential new cold war between China and the U.S. could be brokered by Russia — and that Putin's regime could come out much stronger as a result.

Zygar recalled how the Yalta summit (which took place at a resort in Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula) in the wake of World War II — which involved the United States, Great Britain and Russia — resulted in then-Russian leader Josef Stalin adding vast swaths of Eastern Europe to the U.S.S.R., Additionally, all three secured permanent positions for themselves on the United Nations' powerful Security Council of the United Nations.

READ MORE: 'Freaked out': Details emerge from Trump's 'horrendous' call with Denmark over Greenland

That power structure remained in place for decades until the U.S.S.R.'s collapse in 1991. Gardner posited that a "Yalta 2.0" summit in Fiji could lead to a new power structure in which, once again, Russia comes out on top. And it may even lead to Trump's own ambitions of adding new U.S. territories coming to fruition.

"Trump has made his interest clear in Greenland, Canada, and the Panama Canal. Xi covets Taiwan and the South China Sea, potentially the world’s next big flashpoint," Gardner wrote. "And while Putin may not get carte blanche to reclaim Eastern Europe, he would at least guarantee being back on the superpower big table."

While no summit has been officially proposed, Trump has floated the idea of meeting Putin in Saudi Arabia after the two leaders spoke about Ukraine on Wednesday. Trump said there was a "great benefit" to the two countries working together, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signaled that the Trump administration could back the idea of Ukraine ceding the Crimean Peninsula — which Russia has illegally occupied since 2014 — and some or even all of the contested territory in Ukraine's Donbass region in the east as part of a ceasefire agreement. Hegseth also hinted that the U.S. would not supporting a bid by Ukraine to join the NATO alliance.

Since his second term began, Trump has repeatedly asserted that he intends to purchase Greenland from Denmark, though Denmark has insisted that the island is not for sale. He has also indicated he hopes to have the U.S. control the Panama Canal during his second term, and has not ruled out using the military to take the canal from Panama.

READ MORE: 'Many, many casualties': Panama officials fear war with United States over control of canal

Click here to read Gardner's analysis in the Daily Beast, and click here to read Zygar's article in Vanity Fair (subscriptions required).