Leigh Richards over at Rodolfo Walsh's Glasses has pointed out that President Elect Donald Trumps belligerent outburst over use of nuclear weapons could lead readers who like a flutter might be interested to know you can get decent odds with some bookmakers on the likelihood of a nuclear war breaking out in 2017 .
The odds I think would be lower of if not for the fact that the last year there has been a recurrent refrain about the seeming bromance between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
President-elect Donald Trump gave Vladimir Putin two thumbs up Friday for not immediately retaliating after the U.S. expelled 35 Russian diplomats and imposed other sanctions for allegedly interfering with the presidential election.
Trump tweeted his approval after Putin rejected his foreign minister's proposal to give American diplomats the boot as payback
Not long after, the Russian Embassy in the U.S. retweeted Trump.
Many believe Trump is an admirer and would-be emulator of Putin's increasingly autocratic and illiberal rule.
Putin has condemned President Obama's move, which also included imposing sanctions on two suspected hackers and three companies that allegedly support the Russian GRU intelligence service's cyber operations.
U.S. intelligence services have accused the Russians of launching cyber-attacks on the Democratic Party in the run up to the Nov. 8 election.
Emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee were leaked online and messages stolen from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta later appeared on the website WikiLeaks.
President-elect Donald Trump gave Vladimir Putin two thumbs up Friday for not immediately retaliating after the U.S. expelled 35 Russian diplomats and imposed other sanctions for allegedly interfering with the presidential election.
Trump tweeted his approval after Putin rejected his foreign minister's proposal to give American diplomats the boot as payback.
"I always knew he was very smart," Trump tweeted.
Not long after, the Russian Embassy in the U.S. retweeted Trump.
Putin has condemned President Obama's move, which also included imposing sanctions on two suspected hackers and three companies that allegedly support the Russian GRU intelligence service's cyber operations.
U.S. intelligence services have accused the Russians of launching cyber-attacks on the Democratic Party in the run up to the Nov. 8 election.
Emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee were leaked online and messages stolen from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta later appeared on the website WikiLeaks.Facebook
The CIA concluded Moscow was, in part, trying to help Trump win and NBC News has reported that intelligence officials believe "with a high level of confidence" that Putin was personally involved in the covert campaign.
The Russians have denied meddling in the election. But many Democratic and Republican lawmakers are convinced that Moscow crossed the line and support a strong response against the Russians.
"Russia is not our friend," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recently tweeted, adding that Obama had not "dissuaded" Moscow from trying to hack into U.S. security systems:
Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, tweeted that Putin is playing Trump for a fool.
Putin IS smart. Knows he can get much of what he wants from @realDonaldTrump through little more than flattery. Sad, and dangerous. twitter.com/realdonaldtrum…
Trump, however, has insisted repeatedly that he doesn't believe the Russians played any role in his unexpected victory. And when asked about the sanctions, he replied: "I think we ought to get on with our lives."
"I think that computers have complicated lives very greatly. The whole, you know, age of computer has made it where nobody knows exactly what's going on," Trump said Thursday outside his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. "We have speed, we have a lot of other things, but I'm not sure you have the security that you need."
But as the TPM points out
there's quite a bit more to the story. At a minimum, Trump appears to have a deep financial dependence on Russian money from persons close to Putin. And this is matched to a conspicuous solicitousness to Russian foreign policy interests where they come into conflict with US policies which go back decades through administrations of both parties. There is also something between a non-trivial and a substantial amount of evidence suggesting Putin-backed financial support for Trump or a non-tacit alliance between the two men.More here.
Of course whereas so reliant is Trump on Russian Finance it may be that he may be reluctant to act belligerent towards Russia.
After all if Putin orders his friends to cut Trumps Finances then the latter could face ending his term as President as a bankrupt.
However while we may at first breath a sight of relief that a Right Wing Republican US President may not be prepared to start World War 111, We may find that Trump who takes delight in taking revenge over those he believed crossed him, would press the button not for the sake of the US but his own finances.
World War 111 could start not out of ideology but with the equivalent of someone who lost their home "Going Postal" in their local branch of Lloyds or Nat West banks.
1 comment:
Trump is dangerous because he's unpredictable and Moscow are playing him like violin, flattery gets you everywhere with a narcissist.
Not directly Trump related but there is now proof Nigel Farage applied for German citizenship after the Brexit vote, he's a lying hypocrite who knew
https://skwawkbox.org/2016/12/30/proof-farage-applied-for-german-citizenship-and-hes-under-police-investigation-for-it/
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