{"id":374154,"date":"2018-08-20T17:22:27","date_gmt":"2018-08-20T16:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=374154"},"modified":"2018-08-20T17:22:27","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T16:22:27","slug":"trump-lied-about-his-intentions-toward-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/editorials\/trump-lied-about-his-intentions-toward-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Lied About His Intentions Toward Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eric Zuesse, originally published by The Saker<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

On August 20th, Gallup headlined “More in U.S. Favor Diplomacy Over Sanctions for Russia\u201d<\/span><\/a> and reported that, \u201cAmericans believe it is more important to try to continue efforts to improve relations between the countries (58%), rather than taking strong diplomatic and economic steps against Russia (36%).\u201d And yet, all of the sanctions against Russia have passed in Congess by over 90% of Senators and Representatives voting for them \u2014 an extraordinarily strong and bipartisan favoring of anti-Russia sanctions, by America\u2019s supposed \u201crepresentatives\u201d of the American people<\/span><\/a>. What\u2019s happening here, which explains such an enormous contradiction between America\u2019s Government, on the one side, versus America\u2019s people, on the other? Is a nation like this really a democracy at all?<\/span><\/p>\n

Donald Trump understood this disjunction, when he was running for President, and he took advantage of the public side of it, in order to win, but, as soon as he won, he flipped to the opposite side, the side of America\u2019s billionaires, who actually control the U.S. Government.<\/span><\/p>\n

While he was campaigning for the U.S. Presidency, Donald Trump pretended to want to soften, not harden, America\u2019s policies against Russia. He even gave hints that he wanted a redirection of U.S. Government expenditures away from the military, and toward America\u2019s economic and domestic needs.<\/span><\/p>\n

On 31 January 2016<\/a><\/span>, Donald Trump \u2014 then one of many Republican candidates running for the Republican U.S. Presidential nomination \u2014 told a rally in Clinton Iowa, \u201cWouldn\u2019t it be nice if we actually got along with Russia and China and all these countries?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On 21 March 2016<\/a><\/span>, he was published in the Washington Post<\/i> as having told its editors, that \u201che advocates a light footprint in the world. In spite of unrest abroad, especially in the Middle East, Trump said the United States must look inward and steer its resources toward rebuilding domestic infrastructure. \u2026 \u2018I do think it\u2019s a different world today, and I don\u2019t think we should be nation-building anymore,\u2019 Trump said. \u2018I think it\u2019s proven not to work, and we have a different country than we did then. We have $19 trillion in debt. We\u2019re sitting, probably, on a bubble. And it\u2019s a bubble that if it breaks, it\u2019s going to be very nasty. I just think we have to rebuild our country.\u2019\u201d On that same day, The Daily Beast\u2019s Shane Harris wrote<\/span><\/a> that:<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s surprising new position<\/i> [is] that the U.S. should rethink whether it needs to remain in the seven-decades-old NATO alliance with Europe.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Sounding more like a CFO than a commander-in-chief, Trump said of the alliance, \u201cWe certainly can\u2019t afford to do this anymore,\u201d adding, \u201cNATO is costing us a fortune and yes, we\u2019re protecting Europe with NATO, but we\u2019re spending a lot of money.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

U.S. officials, including former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, have said that European allies have to shoulder a bigger burden of NATO\u2019s cost. But calling for the possible U.S. withdrawal from the treaty is a radical departure for a presidential candidate \u2014 even a candidate who has been endorsed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Withdrawing from NATO would leave European allies without a forceful deterrent to the Russian military, which invaded and annexed portions of Ukraine in 2014. That would arguably be a win for Putin but leave U.S. allies vulnerable.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

It also wasn\u2019t clear how Trump\u2019s arguably anti-interventionist position on the alliance squared with his choice of advisers. \u2026<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

One other Trump adviser had previously been reported. Retired Army Gen. Michael Flynn had told The Daily Beast that he \u201cmet informally\u201d with Trump. Flynn was pushed out of his post as the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and has since spoken out publicly about the need for the U.S. to forge closer ties with Russia.<\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Five days later, on March 26th<\/a><\/span>, the New York Times<\/i> bannered, \u201cTranscript: Donald Trump Expounds on His Foreign Policy Views\u201d and David Sanger and Maggie Haberman presented their discussion with Trump about this, where Trump said:<\/span><\/p>\n

I have two problems with NATO. No. 1, it\u2019s obsolete. When NATO was formed many decades ago we were a different country. There was a different threat. Soviet Union was, the Soviet Union, not Russia, which was much bigger than Russia, as you know. And, it was certainly much more powerful than even today\u2019s Russia, although again you go back into the weaponry. But, but \u2013 I said, I think NATO is obsolete, and I think that \u2013 because I don\u2019t think \u2013 right now we don\u2019t have somebody looking at terror, and we should be looking at terror. And you may want to add and subtract from NATO in terms of countries. But we have to be looking at terror, because terror today is the big threat. Terror from all different parts. You know in the old days you\u2019d have uniforms and you\u2019d go to war and you\u2019d see who your enemy was, and today we have no idea who the enemy is. …<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll tell you the problems I have with NATO. No. 1, we pay far too much. We are spending \u2014 you know, in fact, they\u2019re even making it so the percentages are greater. NATO is unfair, economically, to us, to the United States. Because it really helps them more so than the United States, and we pay a disproportionate share. Now, I\u2019m a person that \u2014 you notice I talk about economics quite a bit, in these military situations, because it is about economics, because we don\u2019t have money anymore because we\u2019ve been taking care of so many people in so many different forms that we don\u2019t have money \u2014 and countries, and countries. So NATO is something that at the time was excellent. Today, it has to be changed. It has to be changed to include terror. It has to be changed from the standpoint of cost because the United States bears far too much of the cost of NATO. And one of the things that I hated seeing is Ukraine. Now I\u2019m all for Ukraine, I have friends that live in Ukraine, but it didn\u2019t seem to me, when the Ukrainian problem arose, you know, not so long ago, and we were, and Russia was getting very confrontational, it didn\u2019t seem to me like anyone else cared other than us. And we are the least affected by what happens with Ukraine because we\u2019re the farthest away. But even their neighbors didn\u2019t seem to be talking about it. And, you know, you look at Germany, you look at other countries, and they didn\u2019t seem to be very much involved. It was all about us and Russia. And I wondered, why is it that countries that are bordering the Ukraine and near the Ukraine \u2013 why is it that they\u2019re not more involved? Why is it that they are not more involved? Why is it always the United States that gets right in the middle of things, with something that \u2013 you know, it affects us, but not nearly as much as it affects other countries. And then I say, and on top of everything else \u2013 and I think you understand that, David \u2013 because, if you look back, and if you study your reports and everybody else\u2019s reports, how often do you see other countries saying \u201cWe must stop, we must stop.\u201d They don\u2019t do it! And, in fact, with the gas, you know, they wanted the oil, they wanted other things from Russia, and they were just keeping their mouths shut. And here the United States was going out and, you know, being fairly tough on the Ukraine. And I said to myself, isn\u2019t that interesting? We\u2019re fighting for the Ukraine, but nobody else is fighting for the Ukraine other than the Ukraine itself, of course, and I said, it doesn\u2019t seem fair and it doesn\u2019t seem logical.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The next day, March 27th, on ABC\u2019s \u201cThe Week,\u201d<\/a><\/span> Trump said, \u201cI think NATO\u2019s obsolete. NATO was done at a time you had the Soviet Union, which was obviously larger, much larger than Russia is today. I\u2019m not saying Russia\u2019s not a threat. But we have other threats. We have the threat of terrorism and NATO doesn\u2019t discuss terrorism, NATO\u2019s not meant for terrorism. NATO doesn\u2019t have the right countries in it for terrorism.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to see why Trump was opposed by not only Hillary Clinton and other Democratic Party neoconservatives, but also by all Republican Party neoconservatives. The main target of neoconservatives \u2014 ever since that movement (which only in the 1970s came to be called “neoconservatives”) was founded by Democratic U.S. Senator Henry \u201cScoop\u201d Jackson back in the 1950s \u2014 has been to conquer Russia<\/span><\/a>. That\u2019s the ultimate objective, toward which they all and always have striven.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even Barack Obama, despite his pretenses for \u2018a reset in U.S.-Russia relations<\/span><\/a>\u2019, had had actually the opposite of that pretension in mind \u2014 a doubling-down on the Cold War<\/span><\/a>. And Obama\u2019s successor, Donald Trump, doubles down on his predecessor\u2019s double-down, there. <\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, neocons aren\u2019t only against Russia; they also are against any country that Israel and Saudi Arabia hate \u2014 and, of course, Israel and Saudi Arabia are large purchasers of American-made weapons, such as weapons from Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics. In fact: Saudi Arabia is the world\u2019s largest purchaser (other than the U.S. \u2018Defense\u2019 Department itself) of their products and services. In fact, soon after coming into office, Trump achieved the all-time-world-record-largest international weapons-sale, of $350 billion to the Sauds, and it was quickly hiked yet another $50 billion to $400 billion<\/span><\/a>. It\u2019s, as of yet, his jobs-plan for the American people. Instead of Trump\u2019s peaceing the American economy, he has warred it. Consequently, for example, the Koch brothers\u2019 Doug Bandow, who represents his sponsors\u2019 bet against neoconservativsm, headlined on 27 April 2017 \u201cDonald Trump: The \u2018Manchurian (Neoconservative) Candidate\u2019?\u201d<\/span><\/a> and he itemized what a terrific Trojan Horse that Trump had turned out to be, for the war-lobby, the \u2018neocons\u2019, or, as Dwight Eisenhower had called them (but carefully and only after his Presidency was already over), \u201cthe military-industrial complex.\u201d They\u2019re all actually the same people; they serve the same billionaires, all of whom are heavily invested in these war-makers \u2014 all against two main targets: first, Russia (which America\u2019s aristocracy hate the most); and, then, Iran (which Israel\u2019s and Saudi Arabia\u2019s aristocracies hate the most). Any nation that\u2019s friendly toward those, gets destroyed. Other people (the masses) fight, kill, die, get maimed, and are impoverished, while these few individuals at the very top in the U.S. profit, from those constant invasions, and military occupations \u2014 which Americans admire (their nation’s military, America’s invasion-forces) above all else<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

On the Bill O\u2019Reilly Show, 4 January 2016, Trump was asked<\/span><\/a> to announce, before even the Presidential primaries, what would cause him as the U.S. President, to bomb Iran, and Trump then was panned everywhere for refusing to answer such an inappropriate question \u2014 to announce publicly what his strategy, as the U.S. President, would be in such a matter of foreign affairs (in which type<\/i> of matter only the President himself should be privy to such information about himself, namely his strategy) \u2014 but Trump did reveal there his sympathy<\/i> for the Sauds, and his extreme hostility<\/i> toward Iran, a nation which is a b\u00eate noire<\/i> to neocons: <\/span><\/p>\n

I will say this about Iran. They’re looking to go into Saudi Arabia, they want the oil, they want the money, they want a lot of other things having to do…they took over Yemen, you look over that border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, that is one big border and they’re looking to do a number in Yemen. Frankly, the Saudis don’t survive without us, and at what point do we get involved? And how much will Saudi Arabia pay us to save them?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The Sauds have already answered that question, with their commitment to paying $400 billion, and they\u2019re already using some of this purchased weaponry and training, to conquer Yemen. But who gets that money? It\u2019s not the American people; it is only the stockholders in those American war-making corporations<\/i> (and allied corporations) who receive the benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n

And what\u2019s this, from Trump, about \u201cat what point do we get involved\u201d if Saudi Arabia\u2019s tyrants \u201cdon\u2019t survive without us\u201d? America is now supposed to be committed to keeping tyrannical hereditary monarchies in control over their countries? When did that start? Certainly not<\/i> in 1776. Today\u2019s America isn\u2019t like the country, nor the culture, that America\u2019s Founders created, but instead is more like the monarchy<\/span><\/a> that they overthrew. This was supposed to be an anti<\/i>-imperialist country.<\/span><\/a> Today\u2019s American rulers are traitors<\/span><\/a>, against the nation that America\u2019s Founders<\/i> had created. These traitors, and their many agents, are sheer psychopaths. The American public are not their citizens, but their subjects \u2014 much like the colonists were, who overthrew the British King.<\/span><\/p>\n

Donald Trump just wants for Europeans to increase military spending (to buy U.S.-made weapons) even more than the U.S. is doing against Russia, and for the Sauds and Israelis also to buy more of these weapons from America\u2019s weapons-firms, to use against Iran and any nation friendly toward it. Meanwhile, America\u2019s own military spending is already at world-record-high levels. <\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s Trump\u2019s economic plan; that\u2019s his jobs-plan; that\u2019s his \u2018national security\u2019 plan. That is Trump\u2019s Presidency.<\/span><\/p>\n

He lied his way into office, just like his predecessors had been doing. This is what \u2018democracy\u2019 in America<\/span><\/a> now consists of: lies \u2014 some colored \u201cliberal\u201d; some colored \u201cconservative\u201d; but all colored \u201cprofitable\u201d (for the \u2018right\u2019 people); and another name for that, in foreign affairs, is \u201cneoconservative.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

About Russia, he\u2019s continuing Obama\u2019s policies but even worse<\/span><\/a>; and about Iran, he\u2019s clearly even more of a neocon than was his predecessor. However, as a candidate, he had boldly criticized<\/i> neoconservatism. Democracy cannot be based on lies, and led by liars.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of\u00a0 They\u2019re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010<\/i><\/span><\/a>,<\/i> and of<\/span> \u00a0<\/i>CHRIST\u2019S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eric Zuesse, originally published by The Saker On August 20th, Gallup headlined “More in U.S. Favor Diplomacy Over Sanctions for Russia\u201d and reported that, \u201cAmericans believe it is more important to try to continue efforts to improve relations between the countries (58%), rather than taking strong diplomatic and economic steps against Russia (36%).\u201d And yet, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1254,"featured_media":374158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[461,519],"tags":[1036,96,1035,3604,535,34,67,524,754,523],"class_list":{"0":"post-374154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-editorials","8":"category-newswire","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-cover-up","11":"tag-daily-news","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-global-news","14":"tag-iran","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-russia","17":"tag-syria","18":"tag-ukraine"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":374160,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374154\/revisions\/374160"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}