BRIAN BENNETT: Biden’s Summit Gave Putin the World Stage He Craves.

The stagecraft played to Putin’s long-standing desire for Russia to be taken seriously as a major rival to the U.S. Even the setting seemed designed to place the two leaders on equal footing and emphasize the global power they each hold. When Biden and Putin sat down to meet in a library filled with leather-bound books inside the Villa La Grange, an antique globe had been placed between the two leaders.

At the start of their meeting, Putin was quick to point out that the summit was Biden’s idea.

Well, it was somebody in the White House’s idea.