Bloomberg (January 11)
“Donald Trump’s first press conference since the election basically confirmed he’s easily the least suited person to be president who ever got anywhere near to the office. “ As a candidate, “Trump displayed vast ignorance of policy and of basic rules of how the government works.” At his press conference, “President-elect Trump utterly failed to demonstrate that he’s learned anything. On health care, on Russia, on anything.”
Tags: Election, Government, Health care, Ignorance, President, Press conference, Russia, Trump
Washington Post (January 5)
“It’s an existential moment for all of Europe’s leaders, most of whom are only just beginning to grapple with the fact that Russia wants to destroy the Euro-American alliance.” Alas, with the inauguration of Donald Trump, they may “have to prepare for an American government that wants to do so too.”
Tags: Destroy, Euro-American alliance, Europe, Existential, Government, Leaders, Russia, Trump, U.S.
Chicago Tribune (January 3)
“Nothing significant happens in Russia, and no action is taken by Russia, without the knowledge of the man who has held total power there for 17 years, first as president and later as unchallenged dictator.” Putin has essentially “eliminated every form of real political and social opposition in Russia.” In short, the United States “doesn’t have a problem with Russia — it has a problem with Putin.”
Tags: Dictator, Opposition, Power, President, Putin, Russia, U.S., Unchallenged
CNN (December 23)
“President-elect Donald Trump long ago earned a reputation for being unpredictable in his statements, but he outdid himself on Thursday. In the span of just a few hours, Trump shook international relations by undercutting the Obama administration over a UN resolution on Israeli settlements, indicated he would ramp up nuclear competition with Russia and then jolted a major defense contractor — and its shareholders — by suggesting he would ask Boeing to replace a fighter jet being made by Lockheed Martin.”
Tags: Boeing, Defense, Israel, Lockheed Martin, Nuclear, Obama, Russia, Shareholders, Trump, UN resolution, Unpredictable
Reuters (December 20)
“As soon as he’s inaugurated on Jan. 20, Trump will face a crucial decision: Will he continue the Pentagon’s support and training for the coalition of Syrian rebel groups which is leading a ground offensive to oust Islamic State?” While “the fledgling Trump administration wants to avoid becoming mired in Syria’s complicated war, and has signaled that it wants Russia to continue taking the lead… other powers might try to drag Washington deeper into the conflict, or use it to project strength, or to distract Trump from other goals, such as his insistence on dismantling the Iran nuclear deal.”
Tags: Coalition, Conflict, Decision, Iran, Islamic State, Nuclear deal, Pentagon, Rebel, Russia, Syria, Trump, War
New York Times (December 13)
Donald Trump’s choice of CEO Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State looks certain to face opposition, even within his own party. “Why would Mr. Trump choose as his top diplomat a man whose every decision or action would be tainted by suspicion that he’s capitulating to Russian interests or those of the oil industry, having spent his entire career at Exxon Mobil?”
Tags: CEO, Diplomat, Exxon Mobil, Oil industry, Opposition, Rex Tillerson, Russia, Secretary of state, Tainted, Trump
The Economist (November 19)
“Reagan’s America was optimistic: Mr Trump’s is angry. Welcome to the new nationalism. For the first time since the second world war, the great and rising powers are simultaneously in thrall to various sorts of chauvinism. Like Mr Trump, leaders of countries such as Russia, China and Turkey embrace a pessimistic view that foreign affairs are often a zero-sum game in which global interests compete with national ones. It is a big change that makes for a more dangerous world.”
Tags: Angry, Chauvinism, China, Compete, Dangerous, Foreign affairs, Nationalism, Optimistic, Pessimistic, Reagan, Russia, Trump, Turkey, Zero-sum game
Reuters (October 18)
International sanctions are hitting Russia hard. “Though the Kremlin shows no sign of backing down, it remains unclear whether Russia’s struggling economy can support its global aspirations. Moscow’s 2014 invasion of eastern Ukraine sparked a major recession. Economists have been looking in vain for signs of recovery ever since.”
Tags: Economists, Economy, Global aspirations, Kremlin, Moscow, Recession, Recovery, Russia, Sanctions, Struggling, Ukraine
Washington Post (September 16)
“In the era of cyberwarfare that’s now dawning, the rules of the game haven’t yet been established…. That’s why this period of Russian-American relations is so tricky. The strategic framework that could provide stability hasn’t been set,” but with recent encroachments “Russian hackers appear to be pushing the limits.”
Tags: Cyberwarfare, Hackers, Limits, Rules, Russia, Stability, Strategic framework, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (August 10)
“If the International Olympic Committee won’t call out systematic Russian doping, at least some of the athletes at the summer games in Rio de Janiero can. So kudos to those—especially the competitors in women’s swimming—who are boldly going where the IOC feared to tread.”
Tags: Athletes, Competitors, Doping, IOC, Olympics, Rio de Janiero, Russia, Women’s swimming
