March 4, 2017
ALL COMEDY IS CONSERVATIVE:
Is Russia Preparing to Cut Losses on Trump? : The heat has been turned up by Congressional Democrats on the Trump administration's ties to Russia. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has already begun to look elsewhere for friendlier ties, leading to speculation that it may be getting realistic about what it will get from the Trump administration. (John Batchelor, 03.04.17, daily Beast)
The chatter today is that hawks in the Kremlin understand the sensational allegations against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and Attorney General Jeff Sessions as Kremlin dupes to be part of a potent Congressional blocking of President Donald Trump's steps toward détente with President Vladimir Putin.To underline the case, gossip about Kremlin voices points to 1969-74, when President Richard Nixon's complex steps toward détente with then Soviet Union Premier Leonid Brezhnev were derailed by the grinding Watergate scandal that saw Congress drive Nixon from office. [...]The fact that Trump did not mention Russia in his address to Congress on February 28 has raised still more questions about whether the president is either too unskilled or too vulnerable to manage détente.The Kremlin is not waiting for better days. Moscow is moving to deepen its ties to the Eurasian superpower, Beijing, and may leave Congress to its blame-shifting self-regard as Russian leaders brace for the international crises and brinksmanship that may be part of the failure of this round of détente, just as they were during and following Watergate.
Posted by Orrin Judd at March 4, 2017 9:46 PM