Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Saturday, June 27, 2020

This Should End Trump, But It Won't

This story would be a bombshell in any other administration. Russia has been offering bounties to Afghan militants to kill American service members, and the Trump administration has done absolutely nothing about it.  Putin's goal seems clear: keep America tied down in Afghanistan. The Soviet Union collapsed in large part because their own misadventure in Afghanistan (combined with collapsing oil prices) unravelled their already weak economy. They are hoping to keep America mired in Afghanistan as long as possible.

What is so appalling is that American intelligence agencies have known about this for months. Yet at the end of May, Trump again suggested that Russia be allowed to return to the G7. Given an imperative need to act, Trump did nothing.

Think about that. The president of the United States knew that Russia was offering bounties on American military personnel and Trump's response was to want to invite Russia back into the G7.  There has been no response to Russia's provocation, publicly or privately.

If the American intelligence agencies know what Russia has on Trump, it would be nice to let the American people know - norms be damned.

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