Discussion»Statements»Rosie's Corner» Trump has done a he** uva job serving Putin. He screwed everyone else but he can't serve two masters. His is PUTIN. WHYNOT?
Over the last several days, the Russia scandal has taken a darker turn. Friday night, the Washington Post reported that Jared Kushner tried during the presidential transition period to set up a secret communications channel with Moscow. Tuesday morning, CNN reported that, during the 2016 campaign, Russian officials discussed having leverage of a financial nature over Trump, which could be used to manipulate the Republican nominee. The exact nature of this relationship remains as yet unknown, but its parameters have shifted. The most innocent explanations of Donald Trump’s shadowy relationship with Russia have grown increasingly fanciful, while the most paranoid interpretations have grown increasingly more plausible.
Indeed, in another one of dramatic juxtapositions that would have seemed ham-handed in a spy thriller, the latest scandalous revelations came out just as Trump could be seen carrying out what looks for all the world like his end of a pact with Moscow. If the president did have an objective on his trip to Europe — a premise that, it goes without saying, cannot be assumed — it was to crack up the American alliance with Western Europe. That happens to have been Russia’s primary diplomatic objective since the end of World War II. In Brussels, Trump refused to publicly affirm the Article 5 guarantee of the NATO charter — the foundation of the anti-Russian alliance, and the basis for Europe’s defense against Russian aggression. He directed his trademark wild diatribes against Germany, accusing it repeatedly of abusive trade relations, despite the fact that the United States does not have bilateral trade relations with that country. Amazingly, he kept up the abuse on Twitter after returning Stateside, while simultaneously defending Russia over its intervention in the American election.
Back channel communication is normal. Every president has had it. Considering this sinister is illogical, since if he were an operative, a back channel would already exist. Trying to create one is actually a sign of innocence. It indicates that previous communication has not occurred.
Trump has no intention of breaking up NATO. He has merely called for European nations to pay their way. The squabbles between the U.S. and Europe are trivial. Continued military alliance is obviously mutually beneficial. Military alliance doesn't hinge on whether Trump was polite to Merkel. Such decisions are not made on whether leaders like each other.
Of course Trump hasn't affirmed article 5. He is a negotiator. You can't negotiate effectively unless people believe you might walk away. To affirm article 5 would be to admit he will tolerate the Europeans not paying their bills. He just trying to twist their arms a bit.
You have no evidence of Trump's involvement with Russia. You have no motive for Trump's involvement. You are just speculating about what he might do, not listing significant things that he has done.
Trump has acted against Russian interests in many ways. His pro coal policy will cost Russia trillions by undermining their gas exports. If he were an operative he wouldn't do such things.
Shortly after his election, Donald Trump signaled a new course with the Kremlin, with fawning language about Vladimir Putin and talk of a new friendship with Russia. That hasn't worked either: The Kremlin still treats its citizens' dissent like a crime, Moscow has deployed ground-launched cruise missiles in violation of a 1987 nuclear arms treaty, and Washington accuses Russia of covering up Syrian President Bashar Assad's chemical attack on his civilians. ADVERTISING
Attempts by these two U.S. administrations to wipe the slate clean with the Kremlin have fallen flat for one fundamental reason: Resetting relations with a country and a government that hold views so antithetical to America's — and that chronically aim to undermine American interests — just isn't going to happen. And, for now, it shouldn't.
Rapprochement certainly wasn't the feel in Moscow this week, as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Putin and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. The talks were fraught with tension, and afterward, the only thing both sides could agree on was that U.S.-Russia relations neared rock bottom. Ties with Russia, Trump said, "may be at an all-time low." Paid Post What's This? When Money Isn’t Enough to Motivate Doctors
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So be it. It's Russia that has evoked memories of the Cold War. The most recent example: Moscow's denial of Syria's atrocity. The air base that Trump hit with Tomahawk missiles was targeted because it's where Syrian jets took off from before dropping sarin gas onto the town of Khan Sheikhoun, killing at least 85 people. Russian troops were stationed at the base. How likely is it that those Russians didn't know what Assad's forces also stationed there were up to?
Consider also what happened last October in tiny Montenegro, an eastern European nation the size of Connecticut but with fewer people (626,000) than North Dakota. Montenegro has allied itself with the West, and in so doing has rankled Moscow. On Election Day in the Balkan nation, Serbian and Russian nationalists tried to assassinate the country's prime minister, an attempt that U.S. officials suspect was engineered by Russia's intelligence community. The attempt failed.
Trump just signed Senate legislation backing Montenegro's accession to NATO. That's sure to incense Moscow, which still sees NATO through an us vs. them prism. Trump's support for NATO expansion, as well as his about-face on his views about the Western military alliance — "I said it was obsolete, it's no longer obsolete," he said Wednesday, with NATO's secretary-general at his side — suggest that Trump's starting to get it: A reset with today's Russia isn't possible. Tomorrow's Russia? We can hope.
That said, the U.S. has three major opportunities to find common ground with the Kremlin:
•Washington and Moscow share an enemy — Islamist militancy. The suicide bomber who recently struck a subway train in St. Petersburg was an ethnic Uzbek who may have trained with the Islamic State. The attacker who rammed a stolen beer truck into a crowd in Stockholm earlier this month, killing four, was an Uzbek who had shown an interest in Islamic State, Swedish authorities said. Former Soviet republics in Central Asia have become seedbeds for Islamic State terrorists, and it behooves Russia to cooperate in the fight against Islamist militant groups. That cooperation can begin in Syria, where Russia and Assad have ignored going after Islamic State, instead leaving it to U.S.-backed Syrian Kurd and Arab militias to do the job.
•Another common interest: North Korea. Russia maintains ties with Pyongyang but shares U.S. concerns about Kim Jong Un's nuclear arsenal. It also shares a border with North Korea. While China is the key to any resolution to the North Korea conundrum, having Russia more involved in the effort to rein in the reckless dictator would benefit Washington and Moscow.
•Even in Iran, where the U.S. and Russian policy diverge, there's a common aim — Russia, too, doesn't want to see a nuclear-armed Iran, and backed that up by signing on to the Obama-engineered nuclear arms deal with Tehran.
Working together where interests coincide is the necessary first step toward stabilizing U.S.-Russia relations. But the Trump administration's shelving of a more extensive reset is not only the right course. Given the Kremlin's intense pursuit of an anti-American agenda, for now it's the only logical course.
Editorials Europe Russia Syria Donald Trump Islamic State NATO
Rex Tillerson says Russia should fess up on election meddling. Does Trump agree? No need for conspiracy theories. The truth about Trump and Putin is damning enough. America's big risk in Syria? War with Russia.
Trump has transformed the America we knew to a Russian satellite embracing all that Russia is, was, will be and sucking up to Putin shamelessly. It will ever be thus because Trump is a shadow of Putin and not a person in his own right. He is programmed to do Putin's bidding and he is by gosh and by golly being a very useful idiot. Thank you for your very thoughtful, informative and comprehensive answer Shar. When/where/how will Trump end his evil hold on everything? I cannot say. I await the day. :)
Lifting sanctions is not caving. It's just a gesture of good will. If the Russians didn't reciprocate will deescalations of they own, he can just put the sanctions back on, or counter Russia some other way. Though he ultimately decided not to do this anyway. He listened to the counsel of those who advised against it. So what's your point?
Sanctions are economic warfare. They are not a normal state of affairs and should not be used continuously. They also hurt the west too. It is mutually beneficial to end them.
Russia's behavior has been demonized. The coup in the Ukraine was backed by the west. The west has not been innocent in this new cold war. Both sides are behaving aggressively. Trump's desire to deescalate is sanity, not treason.
This post was edited by Zeitgeist at June 3, 2017 6:26 AM MDT
Every day in every way with every breath he takes Trump SERVICES Putin. Putin is Trump's holy grail, his everything. You will continue to see him be obsequious, subservient and suckuppy every minute of every day. His entire raison d'etre is to provide Putin with every weapon he can so that Putin can recreate the Soviet Union in its glory days.Putin wants to control the entire world. Trump was born to help him do that. I see no other purpose for Trump's existence than that. Watch this space. It is such a disgrace. Thank you for the link Shar! :)
Zeitgeist 