Trump is stuck with only hard choices on Russia
President Trump has been backed into a corner on Russia policy, facing only bad options, pressed by President Vladimir V. Putin to one side and, from the other, by assertive U.S. lawmakers who don’t trust Trump to stand up to the autocrat.
A near-unanimous Congress last week sent to the White House a sanctions bill that clamps down on Russia, along with Iran and North Korea, and ties Trump’s hands from offering Putin relief from existing sanctions. Putin has retaliated by demanding the United States slash its diplomatic presence by about two-thirds, or 755 people.
Trump is caught in the middle. At home, he’s under pressure to sign the sanctions bill into law and aides say he will, if only because Congress could easily override a veto. Signing the bill, however, could sink his effort to improve relations with Russia and bond with Putin.
Here and on the world stage, Trump runs the risk of looking weak if he doesn’t react boldly to Russia’s Cold War-style expulsion of so many U.S. embassy personnel. Yet over the last few days, Trump has been silent against a hostile act that in any prior administration would have provoked a presidential response.
Instead, Trump has left it to Vice President Mike Pence, who is traveling abroad, to fire back against the Kremlin.
“Very soon, President Trump will sign legislation to strengthen and codify the United States’ sanctions against Russia,†Pence said in a speech Tuesday in Tbilisi, Georgia, during a swing through former Soviet republics bordering Russia’s western border.
Pence condemned Russia’s 10-year-long occupation of South Ossetia, an area that makes up about one-fifth of Georgian territory, pointing out that Russian tanks sit on the border of the occupied lands about 40 miles from Tbilisi, where he spoke.
“We stand here today in the gap, on a front line of freedom, a front line compromised by Russian aggression nearly a decade ago,†Pence said.
The United States “prefers a constructive relationship with Russia,†Pence said. “But the president and our Congress are unified in our message to Russia â€" a better relationship, the lifting of sanctions, will require Russia to reverse the actions that caused the sanctions to be imposed in the first place. And not before.â€
Those actions included Russia’s annexation of Crimea, formerly part of Ukraine, and its support of pro-Russian separatists fighting in Ukraine’s east.
Trump tried to develop a friendship with Putin over the first six months of his administration, mostly by phone until the two men met extensively last month at a summit of leading nations in Hamburg, Germany, including a private discussion of more than two hours and a separate long chat during a dinner closing the summit.
But their efforts at building rapport seemed destined to falter. Hanging over their courtship is the investigation by a Justice Department specia l counsel into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to win the election. Also, despite Trump’s overtures to Putin, Russia hasn’t let up on efforts to undermine democratic elections in Europe and to foil U.S. actions in Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan and Libya.
Twitter: @ByBrianBennett
ALSO
After healthcare failures, senior GOP senators serve notice: 'It's time to move on'
Russia responds to sanctions bill by cutting U.S. diplomatic staff and seizing properties
Sen. Jeff Flake takes on Republican 'denial' over President Trump and the chao s in the White House
0 Response to "Trump is stuck with only hard choices on Russia"
Posting Komentar