Somebody in the Trump administration is finally coming down hard on #Russia – and it's the Secretary of State #Rex Tillerson. Tillerson is about to head to Moscow for an important and timely diplomatic trip and has just this weekend called the former Cold War country #incompetent for allowing #Syria to possess and store chemical weapons and to use them on its defenseless citizens, as last week's horrific attack revealed. Tillerson, in a move of bravado and courage, has also accused Russia of attempting to sway election results throughout #Europe by using the same methods that the country deployed in the United States.
Remarks in an interview surprised many
Tillerson's remarks were made in interviews on Sunday that were broadcast on television, and have been the most critical views of #Russia so far of any person in the Trump administration. Whilst Trump has refused to bad mouth Putin and Russia, and as reports of Russian meddling have stained the Trump administration, this is an unusual and surprising remark from one of the inner circle within Trump's office.
Already, #Tillerson has said in private to his aides and staff, that American is reverting to the Russia-American relationship that is the norm, one of distrust, fractiousness and mutual backstabbing. He claims it was bound to happen at some point, and that Trump's Russia hopes are now becoming increasingly unworkable in the new climate of suspicion and distrust across Syria.
Trump, the only Pro-Russian left standing?
As President Trump becomes increasingly isolated in his view that America should repair its relationship with #Russia, the Republican Party seems once again harshly divided on a united party strategy for a big pressing issue, and it is highlighting how atypical Trump is for a Republican leader.
And so now analysts are saying that #Trump's initial desire to be friends with Russia is a bust. They are saying that it was never compatible with the United' States' competing interests and that that it was bound to end in a muddle.
Philip Gordon, a once #Middle East coordinator at the NSA and now working at the Council on Foreign Relations, calls the Russia-US dynamic a disaster and that it was never going to work out.
“Trump’s early let’s-be-friends initiative was incompatible with our interests, and you knew it would end with tears." He told the New York Times on the weekend that the Russians haven’t changed their behavior in the slightest and they are desperately using all means possible to reinstate and assert themselves across European and Middle Eastern cyber and financial set ups.
On Sunday, #Tillerson was clear that he sided with this view and he breezed past Trump's assertions that, despite what US intelligence agencies are indicating and saying, there was no Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election. Tillerson on Sunday described the 'meddling' as having undermined any hope of better relations with the cold war power.
He damned Russia for taking similar strategies into electoral procedures across Europe
Considering he has a trip planned to Russia this week, Tillerson's insistent tone on Russia's faults and breaches of good behavior are going to make his Moscow journey a challenge. It will be the first time that anyone from the Trump administration upper tier has been to #Russia and he will need to put in place harsh warnings to the Russian Foreign Minister as well as the President Vladimir Putin. Along with this #Tillerson is expected to make progress with the Russians on the Islamic State and #Syria problems, especially the matter of how to deal with the Syrian president #Bashar al-Assad.
