{"id":68421,"date":"2017-03-11T21:54:46","date_gmt":"2017-03-12T01:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=68421"},"modified":"2017-03-11T21:55:27","modified_gmt":"2017-03-12T01:55:27","slug":"why-is-trump-stacking-his-security-team-with-anti-russian-war-hawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=68421","title":{"rendered":"Why is Trump stacking his security team with anti-Russian war hawks?"},"content":{"rendered":"

MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Trump Names Putin Hawk to NSC<\/h1>\n

<\/p>\n

If you turned on the TV this morning, you probably couldn\u2019t help but see the\u00a0news<\/a> that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had failed to disclose meetings he had with the Russian Ambassador last fall when asked at his confirmation hearing.\u00a0Legislators from both parties\u00a0quickly seized on the story to argue that Sessions should recuse himself from any probes\u00a0into Russian interference in the elections, with some prominent Democrats even suggesting\u00a0he\u00a0resign.<\/p>\n

While the press remains consumed with the Sessions story, however, they have largely ignored one\u00a0that holds more significance for actual Russian policymaking: namely, the appointment of Putin hawk Fiona Hill as the White House Senior Director for Europe and Russia. Foreign Policy <\/em>reports<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

The decision to hire Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, for one of the government\u2019s top jobs dealing with U.S.-Russia relations is likely to earn bipartisan praise in Congress where Republicans and Democrats have expressed mounting unease with the Trump administration\u2019s apparent contacts with Russian officials during the presidential campaign. [\u2026]<\/p>\n

Hill, a dual U.S.-UK citizen and former U.S. intelligence officer from 2006 to 2009, has written critically of Putin\u2019s autocratic tendencies and desire of a \u201cweakened U.S. presidency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since President Donald Trump\u2019s\u00a0election in November, she\u00a0has dismissed the possibility of a dramatic\u00a0rapprochement with Russia given the inherent differences between Washington and Moscow. \u201cThe Russians will get all giddy with expectations, and then they\u2019ll be dashed, like, five minutes into the relationship because the U.S. and Russia just have a very hard time \u2026 being on the same page,\u201d\u00a0she told<\/a>\u00a0The Atlantic in November.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For those genuinely concerned about the Russia threat, Hill is exactly the kind of person one would want in the White House. She\u00a0has immense credibility as both a Russia scholar and an experienced intelligence official, and she brings an unsentimental understanding of the Kremlin\u2019s inner workings to bear on her role. Hill\u2019s\u00a0book Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin <\/em>is easily one of the\u00a0best studies of Putin\u2019s motivations and machinations at the head of the Russian state.<\/p>\n

Between Defense Secretary Mattis, National Security Adviser McMaster, and now Fiona Hill, Trump is stacking his security team with seasoned\u00a0Russia hawks who are deeply skeptical about Moscow\u2019s intentions. And the White House already seems to be readjusting to the reality that a major reset is not in the cards. According to<\/a>\u00a0Senator Bob Corker, who was an early contender\u00a0to be Trump\u2019s\u00a0Secretary of State,\u00a0Trump\u2019s\u00a0expectations for cooperation\u00a0with Russia are\u00a0\u201chugely diminishing,\u201d and the prospects of a \u201cgrand bargain\u201d with Putin seem increasingly faint.<\/p>\n

___
\nhttp:\/\/www.the-american-interest.com\/2017\/03\/02\/trump-names-putin-hawk-to-nsc\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE? Trump Names Putin Hawk to NSC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68421\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}