Trump, Putin, Anti-Semitism, Tatars, Blocked Sanctions, Mueller, and Kim Jong Un

Trump, Putin, Anti-Semitism, Tatars, Blocked Sanctions, Mueller, and Kim Jong Un

People who follow the news know of the many links between all of this. I can’t summarize all of this, but I will point out some key links that disturb me.  Putin last night told Megyn Kelly that the hackers of the 2016 election could be Jews, Tatars, or Ukrainians with just Russian passports.  Since the Russians backed Trump who opposed the sanctions against Russia, none of the above would have acted to aid Trump.  If Russians could see the interview, they would judge that Putin was lying, and taking us for dumpkopfs.

Everyone is upset by Trump’s Putinphilia, or love of Putin, even as there are daily increases of the links between Trump’s campaign and Russians, as discovered by Special Counsel Mueller and news organizations. While Trump has bragged that he is the least prejudiced person in the world with respect to Jews, his admired dictator has now revived the horrendous historical anti-semitism of the Russian government, in the interview with Megyn Kelly.

Trump threw away any sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine even before he was elected, with no negotiations or concessions from Russia. Many are arguing that Trump’s instantaneous and unadvised agreement to meet with North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Un also gave away the recognition that the Kims have sought forever, with nothing gained in return. Kim and South Korea played Trump with just a compliment to his needy ego. Trump’s front line news spokesmen and backers are pretending that this giveaway is not a giveaway but a great Trump Triumph.

During the Campaign, Trump railed against the Iran decnuclearization agreement for not going far enough to stop terrorism or Iranian Middle East interference.  This agreed with Nethanyahu’s outlook and probably gave Trump the support of Israeli oriented donors.   Trump also wants an end to Iranian missile development, and denuclearization forever, not just 15 years.  But it was pointed out that dropping the Iran treaty, which removed sanctions and released impounded funds, would boomerang, since North Korea would learn that the US can’t be trusted.  This still might happen, with already wishy-washy Trump changing conditions.  This makes it seem like the Kim Jong Un meeting might be a trap for the US.

If only Trump had paused for a review by his Secretary of State (now unceremoniously fired), or his State Department (which was emptied of Korean experts), or Department of Energy that knows about nuclear weapons (whose budget is being seriously cut), or the Department of Defense (being increased), which manages the Korean front. Then he could declare the meeting a victory. Instead, the administration is backtracking and backfilling to justify Trump’s impulsive decision. The spokespersons praise and rosy outlook for positive results do not correspond to any previous Trump negotiations. In fact, Trump’s record has been to rip up all previous US negotiations.

Late in July 2017, the Senate passed new Russian sanctions by an amazing 98-2, and the House by 419-3. At the end of January 2018, Trump’s State Department told Congress that it is not necessary for his Administration to enforce the sanctions since the threat itself was enough of a deterrent. Let’s recall that Trump’s campaign dropped Russian sanctions from the Republican platform. Softening the previous sanctions also are being investigated by Mueller in the campaign’s meetings with Russians.

Trump gave up Crimea and Eastern Ukraine because he said that there were Russians there. That is the same reason that Hitler invaded all of his neighbors, to reclaim areas with Germans. Will Trump decide to give back parts of California, Arizona, and Texas because we took them from Mexico?

Crimea, with its native Muslim Tatars of the Ottoman Empire, was taken by Catherine the Great in 1783 and became part of Russia. In 1944, Stalin deported the Tatars en masse. In 2001 Tatars had returned to become 12% of the population, and were totally ignored by Trump. The vote in 2014 to become part of Russian after Russian troops had taken the Crimea, was not internationally monitored or recognized. Russia’s mentioning of Tatars as possible hackers of the US emails and elections makes them an endangered minority and is also anti-Muslim.

Oddly enough, this is the day that the House “Intelligence” Committee’s Republicans announced that their investigation was complete, and that there was no collusion with Russia.

In one sentence in the interview, Putin underlined, bold-faced, italicized and exclamation pointed why we should no longer tolerate Trump’s obsequiousness to Putin and his actions.

About Dennis SILVERMAN

I am a retired Professor of Physics and Astronomy at U C Irvine. For two decades I have been active in learning about energy and the environment, and in reporting on those topics for a decade. For the last four years I have added science policy. Lately, I have been reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic of our times.
This entry was posted in Affairs of State, Congressional Investigation, Donald Trump, North Korea Nuclear Threat, Nuclear Weapons, Russia, Trump Administration, Trump's Mental Health. Bookmark the permalink.

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