Thursday, August 6, 2020

Obfuscation . . .


". . . (Robert) Mueller never uncovered the full extent of Trump’s financial ties to Moscow. “Neither Mueller nor the Southern District prosecutors sought out Trump’s financial records or obtained his tax returns,” Jeffrey Toobin reports. The mystery of Trump’s solicitousness to Putin remains unresolved. And he continues to give reasons for suspicion. . . Earlier this week, Trump announced a pullback of 12,000 troops stationed in Germany. He framed the decision as punishment for a long and amorphous list of offenses over a quarter century, including both unspecified trade deals and alleged delinquency on “bills.”. . . The “bills” do not exist. But even assuming Trump is referring to Germany’s military expenditures, how exactly is Germany supposed to meet these demands, given that he also added unspecified economic offenses to his list of provocations? . . . (when recently) asked . . . about the fact that Russia supplies weapons to the Taliban, which has obviously been fighting American troops in Afghanistan. (Trump said)  “Well, we supplied weapons when they were fighting Russia, too,”. . . The distinction between how Trump processes Germany’s self-interest and Russia’s self-interest is telling. If Germany has done something Trump deems contrary to American interests — sell us too many high-tech goods, or fail to maintain a large enough army — he treats it as an offense requiring punishment. If Russia has done something against American interests — arm a radical militia we’re fighting — he simply accepts it as natural. Self-interest is an excuse for Russia, but not for Germany. . . His policy advisers haven’t been pushing for a German troop drawdown, nor have any talking heads on Fox News made this a priority. It is one of the very few Trump initiatives that seems to have sprung fully formed from his own brain . . . driving a wedge between the U.S. and Germany is a long-term Russian foreign-policy goal. And Trump could have merely framed his decision as a budget-saving move, or a desire to increase the troops’ presence elsewhere in Europe. Instead he presented his decision specifically as a punishment for America’s ally. . . If Trump wanted to demonstrate his innocence, he would follow every previous president for the last 40 years and release his financial information. He might be innocent after all. But he has never acted like an innocent person would. . . "

                                           

What do you think? Tell me at
https://rayjozwiak.com/contact


Other Ray Jozwiak Offerings










Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , ,