As Trump says Putin 'not my enemy', sceptics in U.S. see danger

[webfact]

As Trump says Putin 'not my enemy', sceptics in U.S. see danger

By Patricia Zengerle and John Walcott

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin talk during the family photo session at the APEC Summit in Danang, Vietnam November 11, 2017. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In preparing for his first summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump has provoked a rare agreement among Democrats and Republicans alarmed by the possibility of a cozy meeting.

 

While Republican Trump has gone softer on Putin, calling him a "competitor" and "not my enemy" on Thursday, lawmakers from both parties hardened their warnings to Trump before he sits down with the Russian leader in Helsinki on Monday.

 

"Putin is not America's friend, nor merely a competitor. Putin is America's enemy — not because we wish it so, but because he has chosen to be," Republican Senator John McCain said.

 

"It is up to President Trump to hold Putin accountable for his actions during the meeting in Helsinki," McCain said in a statement. "Failure to do so would be a serious indictment of his stewardship of American leadership in the world.”

 

Trump has touted the summit as an opportunity to reduce tensions, inflamed by Russia's annexation of the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, its military backing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which turned the tide of the Syrian civil war in 2015, and accusations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

 

U.S. lawmakers want Trump, both privately with Putin and publicly, to condemn Russia's actions.

 

Congress has taken a hard anti-Russia stance, nearly unanimously approving last year a tough sanctions law targeting Moscow. But lawmakers worry Trump will fail to take Putin to task, particularly over the election meddling, which the Russian leader has denied.

 

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Moscow interfered and Trump has said he would discuss it, although he has stated both a willingness to believe Putin's denials and U.S. agencies. Trump has described a special counsel investigation into possible collusion between Trump campaign aides and Russia as a political witch hunt.

 

"Our goal must be to demonstrate to the world that the community of democratic nations does not intend to accede to Putin's or any other authoritarian's view of the world. We will resist Russia's aggression," Democratic Senator Mark Warner and Republican Senator Marco Rubio said in an op-ed in USA Today on Thursday.

 

Senior Trump administration officials also have voiced fears about what he might give Putin to the detriment of allies in Europe, especially after seeing how Trump appeared to get only vague commitments from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at their June 12 summit in Singapore to discuss denuclearization.

 

Trump declared that he had ended the nuclear threat from North Korea, but one senior U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said: "Who's to say he won’t come out of Helsinki saying he and Putin agreed that Russia no longer poses a threat to the rest of Europe?"

 

'EASIEST' PART OF TRUMP TRIP

Worries over Trump's commitment to European allies and his deference to Russia loomed large at the NATO summit that wrapped up on Thursday. Trump claimed a personal victory after telling European allies to increase their defence spending or lose Washington's support. He particularly railed against Germany and Chancellor Angela Merkel.

 

Trump took another swipe at U.S. allies when he told reporters in Brussels that he thought his meeting with Putin would be "the easiest" part of his week-long European trip.

 

U.S. Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican, criticized Trump for saying that.

 

"The Russian president is a man schooled in treachery and espionage. He jails and murders his opponents, presides over a mafia state and he is an enemy of democracy. Why would a meeting with Putin be easier than a meeting with the allies that we rely on most to be a bulwark against him?" Flake asked in a Senate speech.

 

Putin won re-election for six more years in March with opposition leader Alexei Navalny barred from running on what he says was a false pretext.

 

Europeans and some U.S. officials are particularly concerned about whether Putin will ask Trump to suspend NATO military drills in the Baltic states on Russia's doorstep.

 

Another senior U.S. official said that if Putin came away from the meeting with Trump thinking he had permission to act in the Baltics, Estonia might become the epicenter of what NATO has helped to prevent.

 

Trump's assertion that Russia is a competitor and not an adversary is contrary to the judgments of U.S. intelligence agencies and his chief diplomat, Mike Pompeo, who at his April confirmation hearing to be Secretary of State, said the United States needs "to push back in each place we confront them," referring to the Russians.

 

While Trump said on Thursday that he expects the Helsinki summit to be "just a loose meeting," some at home are hoping it will be a "non-event" with nothing groundbreaking.

 

"Based on just the way things are shaping up, I think a non-eventful Helsinki meeting might be best for our country," Republican Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Foreign Relations committee, told Reuters.

 

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and John Walcott; Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay and Arshad Mohammed; Writing by Mary Milliken; editing by Grant McCool)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-07-13

[Emster23]

Trump is incapable of thinking beyond "me or my", concept that he is representing all of USA. Putin may not be his enemy, but given Putin's actions, he is enemy of USA and the West. Perhaps Trump could be slightly more honest? "Putin is not my enemy. He is my handler."

[meechai]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

lawmakers from both parties hardened their warnings to Trump before he sits down with the Russian leader in Helsinki on Monday.

 

"Putin is not America's friend, nor merely a competitor. Putin is America's enemy

 

Typical lawmakers warmonger mentality.

For better or worse Trump is not your puppet.

You may need to create a new bad guy for your future pork barrel & military industrial complex spending excuses

[Tug]

Did any of you see any Russian tv news during the NATO meeting?they showed a bit here the news anchors were in shock at the windfall they are receiving from trump it’s truley Putin’s wet dream and soon trump will be there to give him a happy ending 

[Becker]

46 minutes ago, meechai said:

 

Typical lawmakers warmonger mentality.

For better or worse Trump is not your puppet.

You may need to create a new bad guy for your future pork barrel & military industrial complex spending excuses

Meanwhile in the real world.....

[tumama]

3 hours ago, Tug said:

Did any of you see any Russian tv news during the NATO meeting?they showed a bit here the news anchors were in shock at the windfall they are receiving from trump it’s truley Putin’s wet dream and soon trump will be there to give him a happy ending 

 

No, but I saw Stoltenberg talking to Trump. It looked like an employee talking to his boss. Choosing his words carefully not to upset his master. 

[bristolboy]

Just now, tumama said:

 

No, but I saw Stoltenberg talking to Trump. It looked like an employee talking to his boss. Choosing his words carefully not to upset his master. 

Or the cautious way you might speak to a madman.

[tumama]

5 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Or the cautious way you might speak to a madman.

Yeah a madman that is your master. If he had any balls he would speak freely. He didn't. 

[maximillian]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

"Putin is not America's friend, nor merely a competitor. Putin is America's enemy — not because we wish it so, but because he has chosen to be," Republican Senator John McCain said.

 

The sharpest tool in the GOP toolbox, John McCain ?

[Jingthing]

6 minutes ago, maximillian said:

 

The sharpest tool in the GOP toolbox, John McCain ?

1000 times sharper that dumbo Putin-compromised "trump."

[Becker]

16 minutes ago, tumama said:

Yeah a madman that is your master. If he had any balls he would speak freely. He didn't. 

Or he was being the grownup in the room and didn't want the man-child to throw a tantrum and leave the meeting prematurely, thereby causing even more damage.

Man, must Putin have had a constant hard-on since the Swamp King was elected. Best case scenario he's just completely clueless, worst case scenario he's completely clueless AND in Putin's pocket.

[bristolboy]

For Trump, it's always about himself. Here's a quote from Trump about Putin:

At a national security forum in September, Trump explained his friendly relationship with Putin saying: "If he says great things about me, I'm going to say great things about him."

Who cares about America. Trump comes first.

[ballpoint]

6 hours ago, meechai said:

For better or worse Trump is not your puppet.

That's correct, he's not the US law maker's puppet.  He's Putin's puppet.

Edited July 13, 2018 by ballpoint

[bristolboy]

3 minutes ago, tumama said:

 

How is that conspiracy theory any better than Obama's birth certificate? Democrats and republicans are like a group of toddlers throwing tantrums. 

The person who wrote this:

"No, but I saw Stoltenberg talking to Trump. It looked like an employee talking to his boss. Choosing his words carefully not to upset his master."

is criticizing the credibility of other people. Truly bizarre. 

[tumama]

1 minute ago, bristolboy said:

That you believe Putin's alleged control of Trump is based on a prostitute peeing on Trump (not, for what it's worth on a bed) shows how little acquainted you are with the issue or what more serious reasons there are for why this might be.

"People's stupidity never seizes[sic] to amaze me." 

 

Well then there's the ridiculous assertion that Russia meddled in the election. Even if that were true, that still doesn't link him in anyway to Putin. All you're doing is adding up small pieces of unsubstantiated bullshit and come to the really bizarre conclusion that an American president is under foreign control. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. In this case, you have none. 

[bristolboy]

5 minutes ago, tumama said:

 

Well then there's the ridiculous assertion that Russia meddled in the election. Even if that were true, that still doesn't link him in anyway to Putin. All you're doing is adding up small pieces of unsubstantiated bullshit and come to the really bizarre conclusion that an American president is under foreign control. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. In this case, you have none. 

I've never claimed that the US president is under foreign control. Just pointed out your error ridden grasp of the case. As for the "ridiculous assertion", governments in the EU are of the same opinion. But if you want to defend a former KGB agent and kleptocrat like Putin, be my guest.

[bristolboy]

16 minutes ago, tumama said:

Yeah many EU countries supported the invasion of Iraq as well on similar flimsy evidence. In fact, we haven't seen any evidence of meddling, it's all classified. But the lap dog EU countries have no problem taking their master's word for it.

 

So not believing in something without proof is defending Putin? Gotcha. 

Is 2 your idea of many? The UK and Poland are the only ones who supported the Iraq War.

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, tumama said:

 

Well then there's the ridiculous assertion that Russia meddled in the election.
...

Where have you been hiding out.

IT IS TRUE!

Pretty much the only significant figures that deny that are "trump" and Putin. I didn't say credible. I said significant. Coincidence?

 

Dude, you're posting totally fake news if you're seriously asserting that they didn't. 

 

Start with reality and go from there, OK? If you're seriously going to continue to insist that Russia didn't meddle in the U.S. elections (and BTW continues to do so for 2018) you lose all credibility you might have in these discussions. You may as well say the earth is flat. It's that STUPID of a position. 

 

Quote

Despite Trump's comments, CIA stands by assessment that Russia meddled in election

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/11/11/despite-trumps-comments-cia-stands-assessment-russia-meddled-election/855212001/

 

 

 

 

 

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, tumama said:

 

Well then there's the ridiculous assertion that Russia meddled in the election. Even if that were true, that still doesn't link him in anyway to Putin. All you're doing is adding up small pieces of unsubstantiated bullshit and come to the really bizarre conclusion that an American president is under foreign control. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. In this case, you have none. 

Once again trotting out pro-Russia nonsense.

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/senate-intelligence-committee-report-russia-election-interference-2018-7

[metisdead]

Some troll posts and the replies have been removed. 

[Redline]

7 hours ago, tumama said:

Yeah a madman that is your master. If he had any balls he would speak freely. He didn't. 

There is a time and place to speak your mind, as an adult, you should probably know this by now (I'm assuming you are an adult)

[tumama]

2 hours ago, Redline said:

There is a time and place to speak your mind, as an adult, you should probably know this by now (I'm assuming you are an adult)

 

That's a new one. I usually get called a Russian bot and a Putin troll. But never had childish before. It's funny all the insults you people come up with. 

[attrayant]

Trump and Putin now have a few more things to talk about. Rosenstein just announced the indictment of twelve Russian intelligence operatives.

“The indictment charges twelve Russian nationals for committing federal crimes that were intended to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. All 12 defendants are members of the GRU, a Russian military intelligence unit.”

https://www.vox.com/2018/7/13/17568806/mueller-russia-intelligence-indictment-full-text

[Jingthing]

The chances of "trump" seriously confronting Putin about anything are nil. 

[Redline]

4 hours ago, tumama said:

 

That's a new one. I usually get called a Russian bot and a Putin troll. But never had childish before. It's funny all the insults you people come up with. 

Just an observation-no insult 

[Opl]

"Vladimir Putin sees Trump as his American oligarch’: Former CIA chief of Russia operations explains Relationship. You understand that Putin has this whole series of oligarchs in Russia who do what he needs done and then allows them to get really, really rich. It’s the same situation we see with Donald Trump.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/vladimir-putin-sees-trump-american-oligarch-former-cia-chief-russia-operations-explains-Relationship/