US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin © Reuters
Washington Post: There’s no joy in Moscow after tough talk from Trump appointees
MOSCOW — They’re resetting expectations in Russia for a reboot of relations with the United States.
It wasn’t that long ago that Russia’s establishment was reveling in President-elect Donald Trump’s victory. That enthusiasm has cooled drastically over the steady drumbeat of bad news coming from Washington.
There was Trump’s acknowledgment of the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia was responsible for hacking the Democratic Party during last year’s election. That followed lurid reports that Russian security agencies had compromising material on the president-elect, which came after new sanctions by the Obama administration.
Moscow dismissed it all, but then came the tough talk aimed at Russia by Trump’s nominees for defense secretary and CIA chief at confirmation hearings last week, who both referred to Russia as a threat in remarks that clashed with the president-elect’s call for cooperation with Russia on a number of fronts.
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WNU Editor: After his presidential victory in November I mentioned to my Russian friends (and on this blog) that they should not be euphoric with a Donald Trump victory .... Washington is a big place, and Donald Trump will just be a part of it. But the U.S. Presidency holds a lot of sway .... and by his nature President-Elect Trump is a negotiator .... he will compromise if he gets something in return. The priority right now in the Kremlin is the lifting of sanctions .... and to do this they will need to reach a formula with President-elect Trump on what needs to be done. President-elect Trump has already signalled to the Kremlin that he is willing to lift sanctions .... WSJ Report: Trump Open To Lifting Russian Sanctions And Not Being Committed To A 'One China Policy' (January 14, 2017) .... the Kremlin needs to now reciprocate. Inviting the U.S. to the Syrian peace talks is not enough .... what is necessary is to work with the U.S. in finding a resolution to the Ukraine conflict, and the U.S. in turn will need to acknowledge that the mass majority of Crimeans really do not have any interest in rejoining Ukraine. Reaching such a formula is not going to be easy .... the Ukraine government has shown no interest in compromising, and even though Ukraine President Poroshenko's poll numbers on his policies are now in the low teens .... he will not be facing the electorate until 2019.
2 comments:
Yes, it will not be easy, but it will move on the right direction and it cannot be worse than Obama administration.
Is the current govt in Kiev a legitimate govt? Why would Trump's team acknowledge the previous US administration's mistake?
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