by Norman Halls, contributor
During the 2016 Trump campaign, Trump praised the Russian leader. Although Trump said “no dealings with Russia.” Truth emerged that Trump has companies with Russians back to 1987. In psychology, often a child’s lie has to do with covering up for a misdeed – even when it is obvious, he is the culprit. As we heard throughout Trump’s campaign his comments of no connection which is incorrect. The continuous praise that Trump gives Putin and the willingness to want improve US-Russian relations should be of some concern.
Donald Trump repeated one of his favorite boasts about himself, one he has made frequently during his presidency: Trump stated that China respects him because of his ‘very, very large brain.’ “The brain of Homosapiens has a fatal attraction to secrets. What we see before our eyes is never sufficient; we want to know what lies behind it, what explains it, what’s the deeper meaning. The compulsion to get beneath the surface of things lies at the heart of what makes some people scholars or scientists. It’s also at the heart of what makes some people conspiracy theorists. More to the point, it explains why so many are excited by recent “revelations” about President Trump and his relationship with Vladimir Putin, even though they are telling us nothing new.” Wrote Anne Applebaum Washington Post
The National Intelligence Committee report on the “Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community” introduce risks, opportunities and growing threats. They said, “We asses that Russia poses a cyber espionage, influence, and attack threat to the United States and our allies.” Why has Trump lashed out against our nation’s intelligence? Where does Trump get his intelligence from that differs from qualified men and women with years of experience and devices to revive information?
Since January 20, 2017 Trump has been in touch with Putin in some arrangement. Many times, Trump met Putin without staff or a note taker present and security. Why? Putin has told Trump “Pull out of NATO,” withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan a rearrangement with Russia, outward significance to Europe to Asia, and send mixed signals to China the potential impacts could be great.
“Russia can, some U.S. analysts say, easily seize three Baltic nations — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — that used to be in the Soviet Union but are now in NATO. Russia backs Syria’s Bashar Assad, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and the mullahs in Tehran. Putin taunts our military by having his warplanes buzz U.S. navy ships and fly perilously close to our own aircraft. Putin has engaged in a crash program to rebuild his nuclear triad (Trump didn’t know what that was in 2016). And Putin’s state-controlled media loves to remind us that Russia is capable of reducing the U.S. to ashes.” Paul Brandus USA TODAY
“Whether he knows it or not, Trump is integral to Putin’s strategy to strengthen authoritarian regimes and undermine democracies around the world. This unprecedented aberration defiles what America stands for at home and abroad; it alienates and dispirits our allies; and—if it is allowed to persist—it will jeopardize our security. Trumpism is a godsend to Putin and a nightmare for governments in his sights—including Trump’s. The U.S. commander-in-chief is out of sync with his own administration, not to mention the government as a whole.” Wrote Strobe Talbott Politico Magazine
“There’s a term for the tactic: “diversionary conflict.” Faced with economic difficulties or other problems potentially threatening to its survival, the regime starts a war somewhere or sharpens domestic ethnic divisions. Since the oil price plummeted in late 2014, the Putin regime has kept Russians on a steady diet of war news from eastern Ukraine and Syria (Russia and its allies have been winning). With the Syrian operation, Putin sharply raised his international standing, but a big reduction in protests against worsening economic conditions has probably been more important to him. Trump doesn’t need to start wars: He and his team know how emotional many Americans are about him. He can choose what he wants to be hated for — preferably for something silly and unrelated to his actual priorities at the moment. He used this to his advantage during the campaign: His alleged sexual misconduct took up so much media time and public attention than issues like his business history, his tax returns and his proposals.” By Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg
As we know Trump is good at pulling diversionary conflicts. “The political battle over the border wall is essentially a diversion, and from Trump’s perspective, it has already served its purpose.” Wrote John Cassidy, The New Yorker. Before the midterm election Trump sent Troops to the Border- costly diversion. Washington (Reuters) – former Republican U.S. Senator Jeff Flake, criticized as a “diversion tactic” the president’s unsubstantiated allegation last week of an FBI “spy” being planted in his election campaign.
Is the Trump-Putin relationship a camouflage for disastrous performance? There is an open question whether the Russians have damaging information on the president after his joint appearance in a summit which, Trump deferred to Putin on the question of election interference and entertained joint cybersecurity efforts. Russia continues to conduct a cyber war against the United States. Will Russian be back in 2020?
