Putin and Trump .... Joined at the hip?

In my blog entry of Wednesday, 25 May 2016 I wrote that,

"It is therefore no wonder that Putin's most fervent and wishful hope of a Trump success in the US presidential elections also stems from the fact that Trump's current main political advisor, Paul Manafort, was also political advisor to none other than Victor Yanukovich  himself, as revealed by Prof. Timothy Snyder. (left to right: Manafort, Trump, Yanukovich)

Furthermore,

"As Timothy Snyder points out,

"... Trump has indicated, in his selection last month of Carter Page (right) as a foreign policy adviser, that American policy to Europe will be guided by Russian interests. 

Page, heretofore known as an adviser to Russia’s state gas company, has been among the prominent Americans spreading Russian propaganda about Ukraine’s revolution in 2014 and the Russian invasion that followed. In his writings he has questioned Ukraine’s status as an independent state, which is precisely the line that Moscow took to justify its invasion. (New York Review : April 19, 2016) (my emphasis)

And at last week’s Republican National Security Committee platform meeting in Cleveland, Josh Rogin (left) reports that,

"The Trump campaign worked behind the scenes last week to make sure the new Republican platform won’t call for giving weapons to Ukraine to fight Russian and rebel forces, contradicting the view of almost all Republican foreign policy leaders in Washington." (Washington Post : July 18, 2016) (my emphasis)

He further reports that,

"Trump’s view of Russia has always been friendlier than most Republicans. He’s said he would “get along very well” with Vladimir Putin and called it a “great honor” when Putin praised him. Trump has done a lot of business in Russia and has been traveling there since 1987. Last August, he said of Ukraine joining NATO, “I wouldn’t care.” He traveled there in September, and he told Ukrainians their war is “really a problem that affects Europe a lot more than it affects us.” (ibid Josh Rogan) (my emphasis)

"Since the 1980s, Trump and his family members have made numerous trips to Moscow in search of business opportunities, and they have relied on Russian investors to buy their properties around the world."  (Niraj Chokshi : Washington Post : December 17, 2015) (my emphasis)

Diana Denman (right), a platform committee member from Texas, had proposed at the Republican National Security Committee platform meeting in Cleveland,

".... a platform amendment that would call for maintaining or increasing sanctions against Russia, increasing aid for Ukraine and “providing lethal defensive weapons” to the Ukrainian military.

“Today, the post-Cold War ideal of a ‘Europe whole and free’ is being severely tested by Russia’s ongoing military aggression in Ukraine,” the amendment read. “The Ukrainian people deserve our admiration and support in their struggle.” (ibid Josh Rogan) ( my emphasis)

Is Trump's dramatic change in the Republican position on Ukraine a payback to Putin?

This foreign policy development within the Trump camp comes close on the heels of Putin's Russia who will,

"... deploy its most advanced S-400 air defence systems to the annexed Crimea peninsula in August, a military official said Friday.
...
"In August 2016 the (S-400) systems are expected to be unloaded in Feodosia where they will be permanently located," Yevgeny Oleinikov, deputy commander of the Russian army's 18th surface-to-air missile regiment, told RIA Novosti state news agency, referring to an eastern Crimean town." (NDTV (AFP) : July 15, 2016) (my emphasis)

Furthermore, that,

"On July 16-17, the jack-up-rig 'Sivash' was towed off the port Chornomorske (the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea) to the Holitsyno gas field, which is located in Ukraine's exclusive (maritime) economic zone.

Ukraine's State Border Service reported, it is the jack-up-rig (belonging to Ukrane's company Chornomornaftogaz) that was illegally seized by Russia during its annexation of Crimea in 2014.

"This is related to Russia's illegal offshore drilling operations in Ukraine, which grossly violates the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and Ukraine's Law "On the exclusive (maritime) economic zone of Ukraine", said the statement. (UT : Jul. 17, 2016) (my emphasis)

These are the criminal actions of Putin in Ukrainian Crimea that Paul Manafort and Carter Page, Trump's Foreign Policy advisors, together with Trump himself, seem to be fully at home with.

As Trump himself has said,

" ... he would “get along very well” with Vladimir Putin and called it a “great honor” when Putin praised him." (ibid Josh Rogan)


No doubt they have also turned a blind eye to the breaking news that,

"Calls are growing for Russia to be banned from the 2016 Rio Olympics after a damning report found state-sponsored involvement in a widespread doping program that began in 2011." (ABC Aus (AFP, Reuters) : 19 July, 2016) (my emphasis)

(to be continued)