Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Pence's Russia Remarks: 'We Shouldn't Wait for Improvement of Relations With US'

Any serious improvement in relations between Russia and the United States is unlikely after US Vice President Mike Pence named Russia as one of the main security concerns for NATO, Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Russian State Duma International Affairs Committee, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — During his address at the Atlantic Council Distinguished Leadership Awards 2017 on Monday, Pence listed Russia and Iran, as well as the threat of global terrorism, as the primary security issues for the alliance, while also reiterating the commitment of the United States to its allies.
"Now we see we should not wait for a quality improvement of relations with the United States compared to the administration of [former US President Barack] Obama," Slutsky said.

There have been many anti-Russian statements made by the United States that endanger development of fruitful bilateral relations, but the latest remarks of the Vice President sums up the United States' position clearly, Slutsky added.


Deputy Chair of State Duma's International Affairs Committee Alexei Chepa told Sputnik in turn that such a statement was not unexpected, but added that it is too early to draw conclusions, as US President Donald Trump’s administration's policy was not yet fully formed, clear or consistent.

Chepa added that instead of the world focusing on the fight against terrorism and uniting its efforts to tackle this comment threat as was needed, "some short-sighted politicians make such statements."


US-NATO 'Buildup on Russian Border Could Lead to Nuclear War' - Nobel Laureate

NATO has been building up its military presence in Eastern Europe, citing Russia's alleged meddling in the Ukrainian crisis in 2014 and the referendum in Crimea. Following the July 2016 summit, the alliance announced deployment of four multinational battalions to Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland.


Russia has repeatedly refuted the claims of being involved in the Ukrainian crisis, stating that NATO’s military build-up near the Russian borders is provocative and could lead to regional and global destabilization.

https://sputniknews.com/politics/201706061054355757-pence-russia-us-nato/

How is Pence allowed to get away with such nonsense? How is it that the Western world believes Russia annexed Crimea. The Crimean people welcomed Russia in and the referendum was said to be fair by independent foreign observers. Russia has had its navy docked there since Catherine the Great, so Russia had hundreds of military personnel there. Washington has destroyed half the Middle East but proclaims Russia and Iran to be aggressors.

9 comments:

Peter Pan said...

Paul Craig Roberts said that it untraditional for a US VP to make foreign policy statements. He wrote this back when Pence was visiting South Korea.

Trump was elected to address domestic issues, so what the hell.

Noah Way said...

The Deep State is not much concerned with domestic issues.

Peter Pan said...

Perfect. Two presidents, one for domestic, one for the deep state.

Peter Pan said...

Because we're the good guys, Kaivey. We can do no wrong.

Tom Hickey said...

The Deep State is not much concerned with domestic issues.

"The deep state" is a somewhat amorphous concept, so it depends on the definition.

Lofgren defines it broadly to include the high level non-elected elite that control US policy and provides continuity across parties and administrations. In this sense, the deep state is indeed concerned with domestic issues and they keep the current crop of economists to the fore.

In a more restricted sense, the deep state is chiefly the intel and diplomatic services that are mostly concerned with foreign policy

Noah Way said...

The deep state is only concerned about domestic issues in as much as they effect the stability and continuation of the deep state.

Kaivey said...

Who knows what the Russians make of this as the US goes around pounding the World. They must be scared shitless. And vassal states in Europe tug along. I once found a three hour documentary on America's wars after WW2. It was a compilation of all different documentaries. I put it out on the Guardian's CiF but they removed it. You can't get the truth out.

Salsabob said...

...Russia has had its navy docked there since Catherine the Great, so Russia had hundreds of military personnel there...

By that standard, the US could annex about half the world.

The cognitive dissonance here is truly amazing. Putin smiles.

Peter Pan said...

Crimea should be returned to the Tartars. Russkies and Ukies out!