DISPATCHES FROM THE FUTURE — The betting public has rendered its verdict, and it is absolute: prediction markets place the probability of a second Trump-Putin summit before December 31st at a flat zero percent, with some six-and-three-quarter million dollars wagered in a single day underscoring the conviction. If the markets prove prophets, the August 15th Alaska handshake shall stand as the sole chapter in this particular diplomatic ledger. The speculators, it seems, are not holding their breath for an encore.

For context, Trump and Putin convened at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage on August 15, 2025, a meeting centered on Ukraine peace terms that set the diplomatic world alight with speculation. Yet Polymarket, tracking whether any separate summit materializes by year's end, registers a unanimous verdict: none is forthcoming. When twenty-four-hour volume crests six million dollars and the needle does not budge from zero, market consensus speaks with unusual clarity.