14 February 2017
Out like Flynn
When Russian politicians complain about the apparently forced resignation of President Trump's National Security Adviser, that will only confirm to some American observers that General Flynn was too chummy with Russia for Trump's good. Flynn stepped down after mere weeks on the job after the media learned that recordings of his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. from before his confirmation contradicted his own account, made directly to the Vice President-elect, that he had not discussed Trump's intentions regarding the last round of sanctions against Russia imposed by the Obama administration to protest alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign. Flynn's offense ultimately was threefold. He may have violated the Logan Act by discussing U.S. foreign policy with a foreign diplomat while still a private citizen; he apparently lied to Vice President Pence about the content of the conversation; and as the Russians would know that he lied, he made himself theoretically vulnerable to blackmail that could compromise U.S. policy. Flynn may have been the leading Russophile on Trump's national-security team, and it would make sense for the President to replace him with someone of similar sympathies, albeit with less suspect ties to Russia, in order to counterbalance relative Russophobes like the new Secretary of Defense, who regards Russia as a "principal threat" to U.S. interests. Despite the suspicions of hard-core Russophobes here, it should be possible to favor friendlier relations with Russia, warts and all, without coming under criminal suspicion. I know it's part of internet folklore now that anyone who says anything in Russia's favor online is in Russia's employ, but for all Vladimir Putin's alleged ill-gotten gains I doubt he's that rich. Trump's security and foreign-policy appointments so far suggest that he has a healthy interest in hearing multiple points of view, if not necessarily as many as he should hear, and it might be at least as big a mistake as appointing Flynn apparently was to feel obliged to replace him with someone of the opposite viewpoint.
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3 comments:
And yet no one seems to care that Bill Clinton helped broker a deal that allowed Russia to buy 51% interest in a Canadian company that, after merging with an American company, controls 20% of the US's uranium reserves. The Clinton Foundation ended up with $140 million in 'donations' AND the deal had to be okayed by the State Department, which then-Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, was more than happy to do.
That Hillary and Bill don't really give a damn about the security of the United States becomes apparent the deeper you peer into their personal lives. Secretary of State Clinton also helped broker a deal wherein hi-tech fighter jets were sold to Saudi Arabia, AFTER sending an email to her then chief-of-staff indicating that the State Department had evidence that the Saudi king was financing ISIS.
Add to that the number of 'donors' to the Clinton Global Initiative that stopped donating after Clinton lost the Presidential election and one gets the feeling that there isn't much that the Clintons wouldn't do for personal gain.
Russophobia really seems to have escalated in the U.S. since 2014, after the Maidan uprising in Ukraine and well after Secretary Clinton left office. By 2016 she was happy to pander to Russophobia regardless of what might be going on behind the curtain. Meanwhile, President Trump is apparently ready to approve further arms sales to the Saudis after President Obama cut them off in a lame-duck gesture protesting Saudi misdeeds in Yemen, after having set a record for U.S. arms sales the kingdom. See http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-arms-sales-saudi-arabia-bahrain-blocked-barack-obama-yemen-civil-war-middle-east-a7568911.html. Despite allegations of Saudi culpability in the September 2001 terror attacks on the U.S., George W. Bush endorsed continued arms sales to a nation not included on the current President's travel-ban list.
Which still doesn't address the point that the left is willing to attack tRump on his "russiaphilia" but completely ignore Clinton's "saudiphilia", neither of which is conducive to the security of this country.
Seems to me that, if it is a fact that Saudi Arabia is financing ISIS, then any sale of arms to Saudi Arabia should be considered treason at the highest levels. What we should do is point our dirtiest nuke at Mecca and let the Saudi slime know, in no uncertain terms, that acting against the US by financing anti-American terrorist will be met by an end to the hajj for the next 10,000 years.
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