Adam
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Donald Trump has yet again stated that he seeks to have good or even “great” relations with Russia. Speaking beside Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Trump stated,
“I hope that we do have good relations with Russia. I say it loud and clear, I’ve been saying it for years: I think it’s a good thing if we have great relationships, or at least good relationships with Russia.
It’s a big country, it’s a nuclear country, it’s a country that we should get along with, and I think we will eventually get along with Russia”.
In spite of Trump’s stated wishes, the policies of his administration, irrespective of who is actually authoring them, are in total opposition to Russia’s stated geo-political goals and Russia’s geo-strategic interests.
The Trump administration’s approach to Venezuela, Afghanistan (and South Asia as a whole) and North Korea (and East Asia as a whole) and beyond is totally antithetical to the interests and stated desires of Russia and Russia’s closest partners.
Here are the key places where US policy under Trump and Russia’s geo-political positions are in total opposition
1. Venezuela
In Venezuela Trump has threatened war and implemented sanctions against the government of Nicolas Maduro. Russia by contrast vehemently opposes sanctions and war.
2. Afghanistan
Trump’s flagship policy of a troop surge in Afghanistan is opposed by Russia as is his policy to effectively bomb the Taliban to the peace table.
Russia favours a process which would see moderate rebel elements of the Taliban invited to a peace table in conjunction with a cease-fire in order to develop a lasting peace based on reconciliation between the Taliban and the government in Kabul, something which in reality means a reconciliation between Pashtun Afghans and the ethnic minorities who are in the current government.
Russia also takes exception to Trump’s threats and criticisms against Pakistan, a country which is rapidly becoming an important Russian partner in South Asia.
3. North Korea
Just this morning, Donald Trump once again threatened war on North Korea. By contrast, Russia has said multiple times that war can never be considered an option on the Korean peninsula and has called for the US to cease its delivery of THADD missile systems to South Korea and has also called for a cessation of US-South Korea military drills. In each of these cases, the US has totally ignored Russia and China’s requests, in spite of the fact that both states border the Korean peninsula.
Russia like China also calls for direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang, something the Trump administration is apparently not considering seriously at this time.
4. South China Sea
While Russia is not directly involved with the South China Sea dispute, America’s provocative stance on the region has infuriated Russia’s most important partner, China. America’s imperial actions in the region, confusingly called ‘freedom of navigation’ by Washington, do not bode well for Moscow which wants to see cooperation rather than confrontation in Asia.
5. Turkey
While Russia is fast becoming an important partner of Ankara, the US seems to be throwing out its nearly century long alliance with Turkey.
The US has blatantly disregarded Turkish concerns about America’s arming and funding of Kurdish militants in Syria while Russia continues to show courtesy and countenance for Turkey’s position which is shared by Iran.
6. Europe
Russia has constantly called for NATO to de-escalate its presence in Europe, but under the Trump administration, Obama’s own European ‘troop surge’ has continued with no signs of stopping. Donald Trump’s recent speech in Poland where he quoted deeply Russophobic propaganda does not bode well for reconciliation between America’s EU allies and Russia.
7. Palestine/Israel
While the US approach to the conflict in the Levant is completely one-sided, Russia maintains uniquely good relations with both Palestinian leaders and Israeli leaders in Tel Aviv. While Russia’s approach is clearly a conflict aversion tactic, if the US supported Israel in any aggression against Syria, this would clearly end any attempts at fledgling cooperation between the US and Russia in a Syrian conflict which is in any case, drawing to a close. Russia is carefully balancing the interests of its Syrian partner with trying to contain the aggressive military posturing of the Israeli regime with which Russia continues to do business.
Any US support of an Israeli strike against any Middle Eastern country would throw theSyrian de-escalation zone which is jointly policed by America, Russia and Jordan, into disarray. To this end, the south western Syrian de-escalation zone is thus far the only area where the Trump administration has made any progress in respect of improving relations with Russia. Currently, it hangs by a thread for more reasons than one.
8. Iran and the Persian Gulf
While Donald Trump’s Tweets indicate a policy that is fully pro-Saudi, even as his own state department emphases a US position of neutrality, as Qatar works to re-normalise relations with Iran, the US could find itself increasingly at odds with its technical ally in Doha.
In respect of Iran itself, Donald Trump continues to advocate hostile policies against Tehran which include threats to tear up the so-called Iran Nuclear Deal as well as false accusations of Iran sponsoring terrorism.
Russia by contrast is an economic partner of Iran and is working with Iran to combat Salafist terrorists in Syria. In the Persian Gulf, Russia has won respect from Qatar for adopting a genuine and unambiguous position of neutrality. This has also allowed Russia to maintain healthy relations with Saudi through out the conflict.
9. Libya
The US and the west more broadly seems to have no coherent strategy to deal with the Libyan failed state, beyond propping up the fledgling Government of National Accord, which is competing with the National Salvation Government as well as assorted militant groups for control of Tripoli.
By contrast, Russia continues to engage with Khalifa Haftar, the leader of Libya’s only successful and well organised military, the Libyan National Army. The LNA is also the only force in Libya that has successfully liberated important cities from terrorist control, namely the eastern city of Benghazi.
Egypt continues to support Haftar and the Libyan House of Representatives from which he derives political legitimacy. As Russia becomes ever closer to the government in Cairo, it would appear that Russia’s plan to help reconcile Haftar’s forces with what’s left of the UN backed government in Tripoli, is the closest thing any non-Arab power has to a plan for Libya.
The US appears to have no plans at all, but one can count on the US opposing Russian involvement in Libya, even though there is now little the US could conceivably do to stop Moscow and Cairo from cooperating in a country the US first destroyed and later abandoned.
CONCLUSION:
As I warned prior to Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin’s first meeting,
“With all the fuss over Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump meeting later this week at the G20 summit, many have conspicuously failed to grasp that the monumental task ahead of both leaders has little to do with their own period in government and even less to do with their personalities. These things of course do matter, but their importance is dwarfed by larger historical and present economic and geo-strategic concerns.
With that in mind, here are the giant obstacles that both Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will be faced with when they meet”.
READ MORE: 5 obstacles Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will have to address in their meeting
In the month and three quarters since the Trump-Putin meeting, this situation has merely intensified. Differences in American and Russian geo-political interests have become ever more pronounced and the Trump administration shows no signs of even attempting to meet Russia half way, let alone approach the situation in a pragmatic manner. The ideological dogmas of the US continue as if Donald Trump is the mere figurehead in foreign affairs that many believe him to literally be.
Donald Trump’s personal respect for Russia seems genuine beyond any lingering doubts. He has no reason to say he wants warm relations with Russia any longer but he still says he does.
The policies of his administration however, belie the supreme difficulty of implementing such policies or even attempting to do so.
Dr. Samuel Johnson said that “the road to hell is good intentions”. Donald Trump’s good intentions in respect of Russia have led not to a new kind of hell but to the status quo becoming more entrenched.
When Donald Trump took office, he bravely embarked on what could rightly be called ‘mission difficult’. Now, the American deep state/military industrial complex has revealed that in reality, it was always going to be mission impossible due to geo-strategic realities, uniquely American arrogance which is embedded into the thinking of even many Washington moderates and finally, because we have learnt beyond a reasonable doubt, that the President of the United States is only as powerful as those around him, allow him to be.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
It always was impossible, The Rothschilds are not going to allow Trump to come in and show the world there could be complete peace through the world. That would be the end of their Industrial war complex. They will sooner put a bullet in Trumps brain than allow him to achieve world peace.
lol what about his zionist son in law. and that bitchy blond……… his sugar daughter, that will make Hitler blush…….
Ok well you should calm down before you hurt yourself. I was going to have a discussion but I think its not what you want. You just want to rant.
I dnt waste time with fools …………… get my drift……………… anyway civil war is always a possibility, that will keep you busy indeed…………..
I think that, really, Trump suits deep state purposes, as I have argued at some length in a post on this page. Btw MY post is for discussion and ain’t a rant.
Oh yeah. He toes the Deep State line religiously these days.
Trump is just an inconvenient puppet while the Clinton Clan is still running the show!
“Trump’s dream of Russian reconciliation”
I am not convinced that he ever had such a dream.
Agree
All we have to do is Look at Haily Statement in the UN …Haily Picked by Trmpz, so Haily Spoke Trmpz words !
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nikki-haley-russia-ukraine_us_5893a9cbe4b0c1284f250dbd
Trump’s dreams no longer matters. What matter’s is the “wet-dreams” of the warmongers and that the free world makes sure they are made to poo in their pants!
It is true that Trump wanted a detente between the US and Russia but his administration was intentionally cripled and then taken over by the Russophobic “Deep State” neocons. Trump’s presidency is now over!
He’s defying the neocons in Syria. He ended their policy of supporting jihadists and started putting a real effort into destroying ISIS. That has made a real difference on the ground.
Neocons in the deep state are committing felonies by leaking classified information and the Jeff Sessions is going after them. The battle could end up with them in prison and Russiagate exposed as a hoax. That is more likely than Trump being removed from office.
Trump’s rapprochement with Russia was always going to be mission improbable, and a number of observers who thought Trump would win the presidential election realised this. Why? Well because the whole idea that somehow democracy in the US was a model for others to follow has been the best known joke for decades. In fact it has been the most obvious of all shams in reality. With Trump the deep state has had to show itself, but as yet not the deep corporate hidden interests which the state serves, but this may soon happen as the errant Trump is of… Read more »
“the military has had to move in and take over”
It is astounding how the MAJORITY of Trumps Cabinet are past military men! At least 8!
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47677.htm
The military seem more aligned with Trump than the neocons on the issue of going to war with Russia. They know what nuclear war would be like. The neocons infest the think tanks, state department and intelligence agencies rather than the pentagon.
“They know what nuclear war would be like.”
And yet they seem willing to go up against NK, also nuclear armed and with both China and Russia as allies against US war on the Korean peninsula which risks nuclear war! What the US regime is doing in NK is aimed mostly at China and Russia, in their continuing attempts to militarily surround both!
The lunatic running North Korea is like Caligula with nuclear weapons. Claims that he is a rational actor are not consistent with him feeding people to dogs, blowing them to bits with anti-aircraft guns or murdering them with VX. He is threatening to attack the US with nuclear weapons and is close to being able to carry out the threat. The US will not allow him to get that capability. The US can deal with North Korea without nuclear weapons. If China attacked US forces they would not be able to sell their products to anyone and they would not… Read more »
“He is threatening to attack the US with nuclear weapons and is close to being able to carry out the threat.”
He is threatening to RETALIATE, NOT a first strike!
“The US can deal with North Korea without nuclear weapons.”
The US now HAS to deal with the FACT that NK HAS nuclear weapons!
Both China AND Russia has warned that if the US makes a first move to attack NK, they will BOTH step in to protect NK sovereignty.
Russia and China will act in their national interests. It is not in their interest to start WW III to avenge a madman who defied multiple UN Security Council resolutions, used a chemical weapon on the territory of one neighbor and threatened to use nuclear weapons against the US. The way the US dealt with the Soviet missiles in 1962 is probably the best guide for how they will deal with North Korean missiles now. They will try to address China’s concerns but they will make it clear to China that they will not allow China’s pet madman to threaten… Read more »
“behaving like Caligula with nukes”
Maybe you should educate yourself on what the US ALREADY did to North Korea in the 1950’s….if you want to know who REALLY behaves “like Caligula with nukes”
https://theintercept.com/2017/05/03/why-do-north-koreans-hate-us-one-reason-they-remember-the-korean-war/
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47653.htm
https://theduran.mystagingwebsite.com/the-brutality-of-the-korean-war-made-general-macarthur-vomit-video/
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/46874.htm
http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-war-crimes-against-north-korea-sinchon-massacre-by-u-s-military-exposed/5602722
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47621.htm
“One of the dangers with hereditary monarchies is that truly insane leaders can and have come to power. That may well be what has happened here. ” http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-07/why-war-party-loves-call-foreign-leaders-insane “If Kim Jong Un was a rational actor he would be doing his best to prove it ” Any TRUE leader of ANY country MUST protect its citizens and national borders. (BTW KIM Jong Un is the fully recognized leader of NK at the UN). North Korea has been constantly threatened by the US almost annually for over 50 years….It WOULD be IRRATIONAL if he didnt do what is needed to protect… Read more »
Impossible for the ‘agreement-incapable’ Untied Snakes and no longer needed by Russia.
Quarantine for the Anglo-Zionist Empire by the well part of the planet is what is needed next.
https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201707271055924535-sanctions-us-justice/
Adam, this is an excellent analysis and probably true, sadly…
But the response of people in Europe like us should be to double down on cooperation with Russia and China and other Eurasian countries to make the Eurasian dream come true…
The world would be a far better place if dominated by cooperative Eurasian powers…
Think of all the culture and civilisation that we have compared with the barbarian and toxic Americans…
We have no need at all of the Americas and, as we all know, the real threat to world peace is the USA…..
The ‘Deep State’ of Europe, the inherently corporate Nazi part which collaborated with and welcomed the German Fascist New World Order (there was almost no resistance to Nazism, except in France) now meet under the aegis of a palindrome – ‘NATOOTAN’ which, like the EU, is HQed in Brussels, but controlled from Washington/London and Tal Habib.
There are increasing signs even in Germany of refgusal to accept Washington’s dictat…like recent German FM attacking lastest US sanctions on Russia…
I agree that there are pockets of resistance to rational policy in Europe, but they are increasingly centred in UK (leaving “Europe”, thank God), and Poland and the Baltics which are being manipulated by the neocons…..
Even in Europe, recent polls show that the US is regarded as the greatest threat to world peace, which it is, of course…
“increasing signs even in Germany of refusal to accept Washington’s dictat”
To use Putin’s words “We judge on actions not words”
Russian politics is much more sophisticated than the squabbling of clueless Americans. A year from now anything is possible.
Given the truism that nobody could become (or remain) POTUS without the say so of the deep state – which must necessarily involve Rothschild & Co/BIS, etc. – I have to wonder about the erratic Trumpet. I have to wonder about the fact that, during the election campaigns, it came out that the mob figureheaded by Hitlery Clinton actually favoured Trumpet, it’s said because he was a poor candidate who’d enable her to win. But I wonder. . I watched a couple of his rallies and I thought, “Hindenburg.” About all that was lacking were uniforms and organisation. Nevertheless the… Read more »
I’ll add that another major false flag 911/Pearl Harbour/Reichstag fire could send the Trumpet’s popularity into a 70% range – it did for Dubya – and his Tweet-like empty, but inflammatory rhetoric could falsely unite the masses. Though previous anti-Russian propaganda failed, it could work another time around.
“Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel”. Samuel Johnson, 1775.
A good summary and points here Gerry. I had hopes – along with so many – of Trump, but recent events are causing a few re-thinks. It could be that, as you say, he was always the choice of the Deep State; it could be that the confidence that Hitlery would win was merely the misplaced view of the self selected East Coast Bostonian “elites” listening to themselves and forgetting that they aren’t the only people in America, or, finally, it could be that Trump is a bit smarter than anyone thought, and is acting on the principle that if… Read more »
Ditto, Isabella. I also sense he is seriously worrying his fleas whilst proceeding with internal investigations that are unravelling their tentacles, exposing them by their reactive unconstitutional Bills/Laws. I may be wrong, but I always felt that he who is cornered to react loses his position of control. Sure they block him from proceeding with righting so many tentacles of the ‘swamp’, but I foolishly (?) believe that he is readying and facilitating for their pending demise with the end of the Dollar (pain?). Remember even this recent article on Russia Insider? http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/washington-signs-its-own-death-warrant-new-russia-sanctions-will-ensure-end-us-dollar Just as you put it: “and in… Read more »
Must admit, I got a sad shock on realising Trump has pretty much handed over all military control to his current war mad generals.
It’s a case of which gets the post first I think. The collapse of America from inside, along with the dollar and it’s international status, or the NeoCon war hungry generals with their overwhelming desire to fight with Russia.
Every day, we never know.
Brittain in 2030 year ?
You forgot Congress / Democratic Party / Media / MIC / IC —-> new sanctions, wars, etc.
The U$-backed Saudi massacres in Yemen should be the tenth reason why Trump’s dream of Russian reconciliation is now impossible
I don’t think Trump (or the Americans) actually live in a fact-based world.
They’re off …. on their own little pipedream somewhere. They just – follow the smoke or something.
The author left out Ukraine/Crimea.
This is a major flashpoint with US trainers and new heavy and very “deadly” weapons right up to the contact zone. And a naval base is being built at the Azov-Black Sea area by US Navy for Ukraine’s “mighty naval fleet”.
All the sanctions pivot on these two issues of Donbass and Crimea. Should be on the list.
The only dreams bush the III has is that of more money, TV ratings and a bigger penis. Everything else heard out of him, are basically farts through his mouth.
The US and the “West” have a LONG history of being against Russia, so it is hard to imagine one man could make a big difference despite the hopes of many around the world that he could!
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201508141025755003-russophobia-roots-cold-war/
If you are disappointed in Trump so are many of us who supported him. He has quickly surrounded himself with war lords. Many things he could control. He could have drained the swamp but the swamp drained him .. Our congress is totally gone war lord. A little collusion would help here.
Trump will certainly have to pay lip service to the neocons. If he is wise, he will act in the US national interest and cooperate with Russia when it coincides with Russian national interests. The neocons wanted him to pick a fight with Russia in Syria but all he gave them was a fireworks display with with cruise missiles aimed to do minimum damage. He then went ahead and ended the CIA’s support for jihadists and focused on destroying ISIS. The US and Russia are cooperating and ISIS being defeated. Trump will have to fight and win a political fight… Read more »