The scarlet thread of Maidan continues wrap itself around Donald Trump's bromance with Putin.

The scarlet thread of the Maidan revolution continues to weave itself through the turbulence of the last few days of Donald Trump before he is given the keys to the White House next week.

This is no more apparent than during the US Senate confirmation hearing of Rex Tillerson, ex Exxon CEO, and Trump's choice for US Secretary of State.

From the very start of the hearing, Democratic leader Senator Cardin voiced deep concerns about Tillerson's move from the CEO of Exxon to the Head of the US State Department.

Senator Cardin further placed Putin's political machinations in other countries centre stage, mentioning not only his direct interference in the US presidential elections, but also his invasion of eastern Ukraine and his annexation of  Ukrainian Crimea.

Throughout these hearings the question of Putin's invasion of eastern Ukraine (Donbas), and his annexation of Ukrainian Crimea, was a constant theme in the questioning of many members of the US Senate who were on the confirmation committee. (The full video of Tillerson's confirmation hearing can be found here. Part 1 and Part 2)

Senator Menendez, in particular, mentioned not only Putin's illegal annexation of Ukrainian Crimea and his invasion of eastern Ukraine but, more importantly, the use of sanctions to deter such behaviour that flies in the face of international law.

Senator Menendez Part 1

 Senator Menendez Part 2

We now learn that recently,

"Mr Trump told the Wall Street Journal that newly-imposed sanctions on Russia would remain "at least for a period of time" but could then be lifted.

In his interview, Mr Trump said sanctions on Russia could be lifted if Moscow helped Washington in the war against Islamic extremism and in other matters.

"If you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebody's doing some really great things?" 

He said he hoped a meeting with President Vladimir Putin would be arranged." (BBC News : 14/01/2017) (my emphasis)

Interestingly, Republican Senator Marco Rubio raised with Tillerson during his confirmation hearing the very issue of the recent sanctions of President Obama against Russia following the disclosure that Putin authorised the cyber-hacking during the US presidential elections.

Tillerson's then evasive answers somewhat dovetails with Trump's recent statement that,

"If you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebody's doing some really great things?"  (ibid BBC)

In the final session, and towards the end, of Tillerson's confirmatiom hearing, the scarlet thread of the Maidan revolution continued to weave itself into this hearing.

Yet again did Republican Senator Marco Rubio raise the issue of the sanctions against Putin and his cronies that resulted from his illegal annexation of Ukrainian Crimea, and his invasion of eastern Ukraine (Donbas)

 
Even Donald Trump himself cannot rid himself of the sanctions fallout that Putin brought upon himself and his 'siloviki', AND the Russian people, when he so arrogantly boasted before the Russian people of his annexation of Ukrainian Crimea.

Donald Trump may easily undo President Obama's recent sanctions against Putin's underlings, who obeyed his orders to bolster Trump's chances of gaining the US presidency through the systemmatic hacking of the computers of the Democratic Party.

For Trump to undo the sanctions against Putin because of his war with Ukraine, and his annexation of Ukrainian Crimea, is entirely another matter.

Even his appointment of Steve Bannon as one of his senior advisors, and who continues to assiduously cultivate right-wing and populist political organizations all over the EU,  cannot be sure that these organizations will achieve the political power that they so dearly seek.

The governments of the EU are now galvanised to prevent Putin from similarly interfering in their elections in support of the EU's right-wing and populist political organizations.

Already last month David M. Herszenhorn (left) reported that,

"European governments are bracing for cyber-meddling by Moscow in upcoming national elections in France, the Netherlands and Germany." (Politico : 13 Dec. 2016) (my emphasis)

He further reported that,

 "...in recent weeks, there were reports of a Russian-directed false news campaign aimed at defeating the December 4 constitutional referendum in Italy. Voters rejected the changes, prompting the resignation of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi." (ibid Herszenhorn) (my emphasis)

We now live in an age of what is fast coming to be known as the age of cyber warfare.

This weaponising of information is, what Peter Pomerantsev (right) describes as,

"Instead of ushering [in] a new era of truth-telling, the information age allows lies to spread in what techies call ‘digital wildfires’. By the time a fact-checker has caught a lie, thousands more have been created, and the sheer volume of ‘disinformation cascades’ make unreality unstoppable. All that matters is that the lie is clickable, and what determines that is how it feeds into people’s existing prejudices" (Granta : 20th July 2016) (my emphasis)

 And so the scarlet thread of Maidan continues wrap itself around Donald Trump's bromance with Putin.

What's sauce for the goose

Is sauce for the gander

(to be continued)