Speaking over the weekend, after his briefing by the intelligence community on allegations that Russia hacked Hillary Clinton-related computers in an attempt to get him elected, President-elect Donald Trump has reiterated that he wants warmer relations with Russia during his administration.
“Having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing,” Trump insisted, adding “we have enough problems without yet another one” in trying to deal with ongoing hostility toward Russia. Trump and Putin agreed shortly after the election to major improvements in ties.
Trump will be facing major opposition on this, both internationally among NATO members concerned he’ll be throwing less military resources at the Russian border, and from Republican hawks who insist that the US being in a not-hostile relationship with Russia is in and of itself likely impossible.
Reports from his staff that Trump is now embracing the official narrative on the Russia hacking is likely to only complicate efforts at better relations, with calls for more “retaliation” against Russia likely to pile up when he takes office, and suggestions he must at the least move away from the path of rapprochement.
Russia has repeatedly denied involvement in the hacking and continues to do so, with officials dismissing the allegations as roadblocks to improved relations being thrown up by the lame duck administration. Whether that is ultimately true or not, the allegations do seem well positioned to remain roadblocks, and a major talking point well into Trump’s term in office.
Here we go again. Now Trump will play this up for a while to save face. Yeah sure he wants better relations with Russia. Riiiigggghhhhttttt!
quote: “Reports from his staff that Trump is now embracing the official narrative on the Russia hacking is likely to only complicate efforts at better relations,……………………”
Give him 6 months to produce some evidence!
No, better still give him 4 years to fail to show it.
luv from Canada.
Your act is sad as hell.
Is that because my position on the hacking was right?
luv from Canada.
Because your position on the hacking was absolutely wrong. It was either the NSA or CIA (or, even both) that was doing the hacking and trying to pin it on Russia .. Fail.
Then Trump’s a liar again?
He said that he agreed that the Russians hacked the emails. Which way would you prefer it?
luv from Canada.
What is amazing in this whole thing is, that the campaign is still going on. It is as if various constituencies are still battling for the candidate. And since the president has been actually elected, some elites seem to have forgotten that you cannot force president to do anything. They are putting him on trial, telling him what foreign policy he can or cannot have — a remarkable spectacle.
Even stupid neocon-saturated Fox, is acting as if Trump’s staff are criminals that need to have their attitudes corrected.
This is a spectacle not seen ever before. What if Obama starts a war somewhere, I somebody bites, will he declare himself the president because of crisis? I am not sure what on earth are they all trying to do with this frantic insinuations that Trump somehow won by cheating. And that the country that did the cheating for him, should be thus put in the dog house, and he not be allowed to talk to them.
Seeing what Obama is up to with Turkey, I am afraid that Obama may have picked one leader with short fuse, unlike Putin, and more likely to react to provocations. One would think that these people would stop causing problems in the last days of their control at the helm.
Trump does not have confidence in the management of intelligence agencies, and he as much said so many times over.
It hardly matters who hacked these e-mails. The hacking may indeed come from Russia — so what? They have not proven in any way that it came from anybody official or established intent, or even less that it had anything to do with the outcome of the election.
But I am confident that Trump knows who he is, and what he is all about. He has proposed good candidates for important posts. But the democratic party is behaving like children, as if Trump is a child like them, and as if he is to turn over to Russia anything that will clash with US interests. The stupidity here is on display, let’s savor the idiocy while we can.
” He has proposed good candidates for important posts. ”
Really? Is that so? Explain why you think a financial predator like Mnuchin is a good choice. Explain in detail. I bet you can’t.
His selections are not being fully vetted. They are trying to push them through rapidly. Why should we take these important picks on faith?
OK, so you do not approve. Hopefully on merit. I agree that nothing should be
rushed — but also, I have seen the proclivity on behalf of Democrats to just be vindictive, thus their motives are not ss pure as one would wish to believe.
It is not always true that being in a particular business one is automatically the shill for that business. Would you have preffered Naomi Klein? Or sny other refugee from that industry. But unfortunatelly, unless one knows the business and hopefully has some good connections, it is impossible to have a meaningfull interaction. Up until now, we had bureaucrats and multi-pupose politicians and lawyers deal with the problems — and banking industry ran circles around them, made few neaningles regulatory concessions –and carried on as usual. This cannot continue if the economy is to move anywhere.
So, I do see his choices making a lots of sense. Remains to be seen what will hearings reveal. So far, I am afraid that it is the Democrats that are revealing more of their own motivations –then anything else. But the day is still young.
But it’s not just the democrats. It’s the basic filings with the Office of Ethics that have not been fulfilled. So it IS being rushed.
As far as trump’s appointments….This is comical. Truly. What kind of procrustean pretzel must one reconfigure themselves as to justify this—
—
Trump’s non-stop nominations and appointments of Goldman Sachs alumni have left his supporters stunned. Trump nominated Steven Mnuchin, a 17-year veteran of Goldman Sachs to be his Treasury Secretary. Stephen Bannon, another former Goldman Sachs banker, was named by Trump as his Chief Strategist in the White House. The sitting President of Goldman Sachs, Gary Cohn, has been named by Trump as Director of the National Economic Council, which, according to its website, coordinates “policy-making for domestic and international economic issues.” Last week, in a move that stunned even Wall Street, Trump nominated a Goldman Sachs outside lawyer, Jay Clayton of Sullivan & Cromwell, to serve as Wall Street’s top cop as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Adding to the slap in the face to Trump’s working class supporters, Clayton’s wife currently works as a Vice President at Goldman Sachs.
But the Goldman Sachs’ ties don’t stop there.
When Alexander Blankfein, the oldest son of Goldman Sachs’ CEO Lloyd Blankfein was married in 2013, Joshua Kushner attended the wedding. Joshua had been Alexander’s roommate at Harvard according to the New York Times. Joshua is the brother-in-law to a woman who will play a major role in the Trump administration – Ivanka Trump, daughter of the President-elect and wife of Joshua’s brother, Jared.
etc
wallstreetonparade .com /2017/01/heres-how-goldman-sachs-became-the-overlord-of-the-trump-administration/
According to Politico, Goldman Sachs partner, Dina Powell, President of the Goldman Sachs Foundation, is Ivanka’s “top adviser on policy and staffing.”
I am definitely open minded on this issue, in fact, overdose of Goldman Sachs is not promising.
Perhaps, Obama’s rule made me not care any more about these games. He ended up being an empty vessel for deep state objectives in what really matters to their wallet. All the visions of global empire dancing in their heads, while lining their pockets. Trump does not have the luxury to continue on the current path — and I see his moves in appointing people, just a form of corporate alliances, moving into the open what has been moving in shadows. So, the question remains, can he create strong enough alliance to be able to counter the resistance to his policies. He, and I do not think it is just he by himself, has come to the conclusion that the current direction is unsustainable. To change anything, one risks a wrath of those who will oppose it.
Bottom line, he needs other powers, not just Russia, to open up their purse, and contribute to the focused military plan to smother out of control radical cults, bought and paid for by our allies, and courtesy of US taxpayer. He can make even very thrifty China to open up their purse. The current path leads to the loss of US global leadership, and the price that comes with it. And at the same time, all the money being spent on building that coveted leadership — is a pressing debt. So, Trump needs money to revive economy, real one. He needs to do something about the loss of technological edge in US in military. Not to mention the gutted Mid West, and the growing number of idle land, idle hands and idle minds in US.
The current leadership in both parties, see only one sexy exit, that is, find a state of war, cold one, and make it look big. Get the terrorism off the radar, and relegate it to the third rate news. Russia, is a good candidate, so just warm up the old brochures and narratives — and we are good. Contractors will continue making money — switching from the terror formula, to the big ticket — defend Europe, and make Europe pay.
I think Trump knows this will not work. Demonization has been tried now since 2013, no really since 2008, and has not worked. Especially, the latest round of Putin “the thug” is falling not just flat, but is making us look idiotic in the eyes of the world. When even Japan says, enough. That should say us something. Turning back on US, and signing over 60 deals with Putin during last Putin’s visit to Japan — ought to tell us what world thinks of our Russia-campaign. And the outcome is, strong Asian orientation of Russia’s economy and politics, leaving Europe on the periphery. No amount of cold war posturing can change that.
Trump is not in this alone. He has oil industry behind him, the industry Obama neglected, in favor of high-tech, media and banking business.
So, now it is on. Will Trump succeed in rebalancing the global relations, by focusing on the big powers to resolve/fund resolution of problems, or will the current constellation of interests carry the day.
And to do what he is seeing, and what he talked about during campaign, what he wrote into his Foreign Policy Strategy, and then talked about after election — will he be allowed to. Will he have a strong enough alliance to prevail?
Like in any change, there are winners or losers. As Machiavelli said, “Changing systems will bring you all the animosity of those that stand to lose, and only a lukewarm support of those that stand to win.”
If Trump never made such a point, developed rationale, written about it — I would say that all the talk of foreign policy is claptrap. But he did, and the voters took note. People understand the linkage between the economic stagnation and the overreach.
Since I cannot dismiss all the really controversial changes he wants to make — I cannot just as easily dismiss his Goldman Sachs overload. If I could, it would look like just a way to get rich richer. But I cannot. So, it just remains to be seen.
Either way, we will be living in interesting times. He is making a case to stop globalization as a means of syphoning the wealth of America, and his opponents want not just to stop him, but let him like Obama, take the blame for the continued, guaranteed failures.
Can Trump naturally acquiesce to this? Who knows, everybody has a price.
First of all Bianca, to suggest that Obama is going to take over the presidency is below your level of dignity. It’s shameful coming from you.
Whether or not Russia hacked the emails is of course not important but unfortunately your entire country has made it important. It was argued here, against my suggestion that Russia did, with great insistence and passion.
So that’s where the antiwar battle is being lost by we who oppose more US led wars. The American people have been indoctrinated and propagandized and filled with unjustifiable patriotism. We’re just not doing near enough to change that.
The only way I can imagine changing that would be a concerted effort to build Russia’s and /or Putin’s credibility back up in the minds of Americans. That’s going to be a very daunting task. Some may think that chore had been started but sadly we have now seen indications that it practically doesn’t exist.
Can you think of any other way to promote peace?
When Rex Tillerson (praised by the founder of this website) held a senior position in Exxon, the company was involved in all sorts of extremely unsavory activities, such as this-
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Oil_watch/DeadlyDrilling_Aceh.html
Links again not posting correctly-
Deadly Drilling in Aceh
by Robert Weissman
Multinational Monitor, July / August 2001
www .thirdworldtraveler.com/Oil_watch/DeadlyDrilling_Aceh. html
I have been in the “Hammer and Sickle” Soviet Union twice for scientific conferences. The first thing that struck me when I returned after the demise of the SU was the return of the two-headed Czarist Eagle. (Double Headed Eagles were standard in European Empires before WW1). It was all I needed to know roughly about the direction Russia was going to take. The change was not going in the direction of “all men are created equal” (which in the SU definitely was not the case) but towards a new aristocracy and possibly another form of autocratic governance. Putin may be trying to slow that development (I am not certain that he does) but it is futile anyway because Russia today is a continuation of the 1917 Kerensky Russia hence the new aristocracy is likely to be property based. In other words Russian Trumps but not Stroganoffs. One irony is that the Lenin revolution definitely eliminated the Stroganoffs from power and paved the way for the latter day Russian Trumps. The irony of Trump’s rapprochement with Russia is that Putin apparently does not cotton Russian Trumps when they get in his way.
I get your message about the double headed eagle. This is a deliberate commie attempt to outdo America’s eagle with one head. Thanks for sharing that with us!
I have something to share with all of you too on Russia. People who come back from visiting Russia are consistently left with a few impressions.
1. Russians are friendly to Americans and there is no animosity showing because of what the US is trying to do to Russia.
2. Russians express their leadership’s determination to move their trade relations away from the West (the US) because they know that the politics of hate isn’t going to change.
3. They love Putin because he’s a strong and determined leader of their country and they know he’s not going to let them down..
And then there’s that two-headed eagle that disproves it all. Go figure!
luv from Canada.
If there was one thing that could be done by the moderators to make this board a better place, it would be to forbid hate propaganda. Your’s comes pretty close to that dieter.
This is what we should be talking about:
Undercover video shows Democrat operatives admitting they incited violence at Trump rallies
https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/10/undercover-video-shows-democrat-operatives-admitting-they-incited-violence-at-trump-rallies
A must read here, the author is no leftist that’s for sure:
‘How Russia is pilloried while real news about Israel goes unreported’
http://www.unz.com/pgiraldi/fake-news-versus-no-news/
Oh, that’s it Jonah, promote the domestic politics with an ugly picture of Hillary to bring it home to all the lowlifes. Thereby taking the emphasis off of the topic and putting it back to left/right and R/D hate toward each other. It’s schmucks like you who are never going to get it.
luv from Canada.
Yes, it will be good, if it will not be done at the expense of Russian-Chinese warm ties.
Trump can’t be trusted to do anything but disappear up into his own asshole.