United States President Donald Trump was intent on mending ties with Russia, but has apparently given up on this campaign pledge under the pressure from the Pentagon, political analyst and journalist Patrick Lawrence, a foreign affairs columnist at news website Salon and a contributing commentator at The Fiscal Times, told Radio Sputnik.
US-Russia Relations: 'What We Have Seen is Capitulation on Trump's Part'
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201704141052646548-us-russia-trump-capitulation/
What we have just witnessed over here is a kind of capitulation on Trump's part. He had an idea for improving the relationship with Russia that he inherited from Obama. This was considered very undesirable by the military and national security bureaucracies. He has just surrendered on this point. That's what we have just watched," he said.
The relationship between Moscow and Washington was damage following the 2014 foreign-sponsored coup in Kiev, the subsequent civil war in Ukraine and Crimea's peaceful and democratic reunification with Russia. The Syrian conflict has also served as a major point of contention between the two powers that support opposite sides of the six-year-long crisis.
Trump wanted to reboot the tense relationship, but has largely been unable to deliver on this campaign promise.
"The foreign policy in the United States is now being set more or less directly by the Pentagon and it is sent to the White House by way of Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, an active duty officer, who is Trump's National Security Advisor. Trump has very few people, possibly none, left around him who are countering the Pentagon's perspective. That's quite serious," the political analyst said. "We are seeing this with China and we are seeing this with Russia, the two most important relationships America has outside of the Atlantic alliance."
Lawrence emphasized that
the Pentagon "is not given to diplomacy," adding that the United States has a "military policy" instead of a "foreign policy." The analyst further said that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's visit to Russia was not meant to build trust between the two countries.
"What we are watching with regard to Russia and China, the character of this administration's approach is very, very assertive and it's based on some shrouded measure of threat. Trump has said that if the Chinese don't help the US with North Korea, we'll go it alone. With regard to Russia, Tillerson is saying: 'You're either with us or you are with Assad.' These are veiled threats. I doubt Secretary Tillerson or anybody in the White House would ever use that term but that's what they amount to. I don't see that it's going to work. I don't see either Moscow or Beijing being responsive to this approach, but that's where we are. I find it very discouraging," he said.
Lawrence also praised Moscow for its measured response to Washington's assertive foreign policy.
"It is quite notable that the Putin administration is ever in search of restraint," he said, adding that Moscow is always open to cooperation. "The determinant lies in Washington. Does this administration wants to engage in diplomacy, cooperation on questions of mutual interest or not? Or is American primacy, hegemony if you like, the only consideration? It's up to the Americans really. In my read, Russia's perfectly willing to cooperate. I often find Moscow's patience quite remarkable to observe in the face of very offensive behavior and talk on the part of the Americans."
United States President Donald Trump expressed confidence that relations between Washington and Moscow will normalize. According to political analyst Dmitry Mikheyev, Washington needs to work out a clear foreign policy strategy, including on Russia.
Trump 'Lacks Specialists on Russia', Faces 'Sabotage' in Washington
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201704141052642460-trump-russia-policy/
The US President said that finally there will be "lasting peace" in Russia-US relations.
"Things will work out fine between the U.S.A. and Russia. At the right time everyone will come to their senses & there will be lasting peace!" Trump wrote on Twitter.
Earlier, Trump said that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s talks in Moscow were "very successful."
"I think he had a very successful meeting in Russia. We'll see, we'll see the end result, which will be in a long period of time perhaps. But the end result is what's most important, not just talk," Trump said Wednesday during a joint press briefing with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
However, he underscored that the US at present "does not get along with Russia at all."
Trump also said it would be fantastic to improve US relations with Russia as well as with many other countries in order to stabilize the situation around the world.
Washington and Moscow have exchanged a series of mutual blames after the Pentagon launched a missile attack on a Syrian airbase on April 7. The White House said the move was in response to the reported chemical weapons use in Idlib on April 4. The US and many its allies have blamed Damascus for the incident.
Moscow has called for an objective investigation into the Idlib incident and described the US missile strike as an act of aggression.
In an interview with Radio Sputnik, Dmitry Mikheyev, a political analyst and specialist in US politics, suggested that
the US presidential administration lacks experts and advisors on Russia to elaborate its foreign policy strategy.
With all Trump’s actions and statements, it is clear that he has not yet formed the foreign policy team in the State Department. This means there are no specialists on Russia who would offer recommendations. Trump and Tillerson have no experience in the field. Tillerson’s visit to Moscow was expected to facilitate the development of Trump’s foreign policy strategy," Mikheyev pointed out.
The expert said that currently it is difficult for Trump to "designate the scope for maneuvering" because his domestic positions are weak.
"Some forces [in Washington] are openly trying to sabotage his presidency. This is why Trump cannot find specialists for the State Department. He doesn’t know who he can trust," Mikheyev said.
The US just spent $314 million to destroy the Islamic terrorist cave complex which the CIA built with help from Bin Laden
Ed Snowden: Afghan bunkers ‘MOAB’ bomb destroyed were built by CIA
http://theduran.com/snowden-afghan-bunkers-moab-bomb/
The media is awash with enthusiastic reports that the US military has employed the largest conventional bomb ever designed, the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb or “MOAB” (18,000 lbs. of explosive, 22,000 lbs. total weight) on a cave-bunker complex in near Tora Bora in Afghanistan – the same place Osama bin Laden was supposedly hiding not long after 9-11.
The US says the complex was being used by ISIS.
US President Trump is receiving credit for the bombing, both from supporters and opponents (including former supporters), though he told the press he did not personally give the order.
Nevertheless, the bombing seems to fit into Trump’s declared strategy for fighting terrorism, described below (from 0:36 seconds).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RBlVxBlbwQ
Only one thing is being left out of the media reports. How did ISIS (or al Qaeda, or the Mujahadeen, or whichever Islamic terrorists the US is secretly backing this week) get such a wonderful bunker complex to begin with? Ed Snowden reminds us of the answer:
https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/852597443237732352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Ftheduran.com%2Fsnowden-afghan-bunkers-moab-bomb%2F
So $314 million to destroy, and untold millions more to build.
Are we seeing how the military-industrial complex works yet?
