Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Is President Trump Right About Russia?

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin shake hands as they meet. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque


David P. Goldman, PJ Media: Once Again, President Trump Is Magnificently Right—This Time About Russia

President Trump offended the entire political spectrum with a tweet this morning blaming the U.S. for poor relations with Russia. “Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity,” the president said, and he is entirely correct. By this I do not mean to say that Russia is a beneficent actor in world affairs or that President Putin is an admirable world leader. Nonetheless, the president displayed both perspicacity and political courage when he pointed the finger at the United States for mismanaging the relationship with Russia.

Read more ....

WNU Editor:
According to almost every pundit that covers U.S. - Russian relations .... President Trump's approach and policy is wrong. But kudos to David P. Goldman for giving a contrarian point of view.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Trump on Hannity: We Know There’s No Russia Collusion, Because Putin Said So

B.Poster said...

This is an excellent article by Mr. Goldman. I could have easily written this one myself. There is generally nothing found in the article that I am in disagreement with. As stated, I could have written this myself.

He generally assumes that American leaders act out of incompetence and not malice. This is generally my assumption as well. If this is not the case, and the actions mentioned really were done out of malice we have an even bigger problem than either he or I think we have. If so, it becomes even more imperative that the Trump efforts succeed in lessening tensions.

He uses the analogy of a "fraternity prank" when describing the effort of the twelve Russian intelligence agents compared with serial interference by America in Russian affairs. I differ somewhat in the analogy I would use. I would liken the efforts to a child's toy water gun as the Russian efforts compared to the tidal wave after tidal wave of efforts by the US to interfere in Russian affairs. Some kind of blowback would be expected and it would be expected to occur against those corrupt unscrupulous elements who se the process in motion in the first place.

Additional points to consider. Mr. Goldman points out that Russia has historically been run by ruthless men and Putin is among the mildest in the history of the nation. I've long observed this as well. Even if one were to succeed through the use of the various NGOs and other efforts to ultimately oust Putin or his team one would end up with an even more anti-American figure than Putin. As such, extreme care should probably taken NOT to undermine the Putin government.

In my opinion, HRC may well have sealed her fate when she stupidly supported the coup in Ukraine. As I pointed out very quickly at the time in 2014, this was and is about the stupidest move a major world power ever made.

DJT could solve this problem very quickly. Extricate us from this and recognize Crimea as Russian. Geopolitically there is no cost to this and the upside potential is huge. Of course certain domestic crazies will be set off. Were this not so serious, watching such people would be entertaining. POTUS is absolutely correct that such people have "driven a wedge" AND for no good reason other than partisan politics.

Candidate Trump did float the idea of recognizing Crimea as Russians. With larger majorities in Congress after November we should be able to look forward to saner policies.

While there may be nominal areas at the margins that may not be entirely correct, this article should be the "must read" of the day.

Anonymous said...

kudos?

the conservative and liberal press denounce this treacher ous attack on our nation's intel and one person says otherwise and so Good for him? wow PJ media falling over itself trying to justify the moron in charge...sort of like the left wing commies in US who could not face the fact that their beliefs turned out to be a lie.
Either you support Putin or the US...no. There is no this or that or excuse. Trump has just denounced American intel and told us he believes the KGB guy.

Anonymous said...

Леон
ви настільки чітко є російським інструментом, за допомогою якого ви змусите нас сміятися над вашою однорічною спробою пройти себе як інакше. Ні, де і ніколи не буває поганого слова для Путіна або ворога на заході.
іди флеш собі погану людину

Anonymous said...



Vladimir Putin: That could be a first step, and we can also extend it. Options abound, and they all can be found in an appropriate legal framework.

Jeff Mason: President Putin, did you want President Trump to win the election and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?

Putin: Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.–Russia relationship back to normal.

B.Poster said...

"Kudos?" I don't think you actually read the article. Essentially the author has pointed out the error of his prior ways and has acknowledged them. Essentially the framework for how we have been dealing with Russia is flawed. DJT suggests a new approach. Is there a third way? Perhaps but given the options of perpetual war that is perhaps unwinnable and for no good reason over Trump diplomacy I would choose Trump diplomacy any day.

Besides Trump diplomacy has born some very positive fruit. Tension with North Korea have been drastically reduced and we had a summit with Russian leadership that the Russians really didn't even need to attend. In contrast, we need this. Getting this done is sheer genius!! It would be beyond a shame for partisan hacks and the news media perhaps egged on by such hacks to undermine this.

"Either you support Putin or the US...." Actually we support the US. Many of realize that in order to properly advance our interests and to achieve the best outcome for our citizens a certain level of understanding and cooperation is going to need to be established with Russian leadership. Those of us who exist in the real world, are over the age of 5, and do not make decisions based upon ideology understand that the world is generally not as simple as you try to make it.

Of course some are having trouble coming to terms with the fact that their candidate lost the general election. Also, most in the establishment did not want Trump as POTUS. Such people appear to be having trouble coming to terms with reality and seem perfectly willing to undermine American national security to undermine the president they despise. Actually Rand Paul had some interesting things to say about all of this.

Such diplomatic opportunities may never come again. It's important that we not squander it.

"Trump has just denounced American intel..." Given the poor track record, Iraq WMD, 911, and I could EASLY GO ON this isn't a hard thing to do. Any POTUS worth his or her salt should be very cautious about trusting them as a primary source for pretty much anything. Expressing skepticism should hardly be considered unpatriotic. Such would be the mark of a good leader. Presumably Trump as POTUS will have seen the "evidence" or at least been briefed on it. Presumably he is underwhelmed by it. Personally I think he should have stuck by what he said initially UNLESS he has now been presented with new evidence preferably from another source that would corroborate what our intel is saying.