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One of the hallmarks of Donald Trump is that he always speaks his mind, big and small.
Except in some cases where his silence becomes deafening. Surprisingly often, it is about Russian President Vladimir Putin and his regime.
Photo: AFP
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin during the Helsinki 2018 meeting.
More recently, it is about the poisoning of the main Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny. Not even when German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared the other day that it was the chemical weapon developed by the Soviets Novichok that was used to poison Navalny, did she pull on the US President’s Twitter finger.
Instead, he was fully occupied with demonstrations over Democratic President Nancy Pelos’ visit to a hair salon without a mouth guard.
While the EU strongly condemns the Navalny assassination attempt and demands responses from Russia on how it went, Trump is silent.
He observed the same silence this week when it emerged that Russia had resumed its attempts to influence the outcome of the US presidential election.
In the same way, he was silent when it was recently revealed that Russia was suspected of having paid fire to the Taliban in Afghanistan to kill American soldiers.
When Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were assassinated by Novitjok in Britain two years ago, the United States was one of the Western countries to expel Russian diplomats in protest. But in conversations with then-Prime Minister Theresa May, Trump expressed doubts that it was really Russia that was behind the assassination attempt.
In addition, Trump delayed the introduction of sanctions against Russia, which Congress decided after the Sklripal affair. According to then-national security adviser John Bolton, Trump thought the sanctions were “too harsh on Putin.”
Trust Putin More
At the beginning of his presidential career, Trump often expressed his admiration for Vladimir Putin, and although relations between Russia and the United States are in many respects the worst since the Cold War, Trump strives for a friendly relationship with Putin almost never criticizing to Russian. President.
The most extreme of that path was witnessed during the Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki in 2018. At the press conference, Trump said that he trusted the Russian president more than the US intelligence services when it came to attempts to Russia from influencing the outcome of Trump’s 2016 election.
There has been speculation about why Trump is so submissive to Putin. Does the Russian president have any control over the president of the United States?
So far, no reasonable explanation has crystallized.
Trump’s silence on Navalny stands in stark contrast to other controversial decisions the United States has made in recent days. The United States imposed sanctions on several judges of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, ICC. This means that they are not allowed to travel to the United States and that the assets of American banks are frozen.
The reason is that the ICC had the audacity to investigate the possible war crimes of American soldiers in Afghanistan. The United States does not recognize the ICC precisely because it does not believe that an international court should be able to convict American citizens. But from there to imposing sanctions on the members of the court there is a long way to go.
The United States has received strong criticism for its decision.
Problems for NATO
It’s not just Trump’s critics who express surprise at the president’s inability to criticize Russia and Putin.
This is what Nicholas Burns, one of the top Foreign Ministry officials during George W. Bush’s presidency, says.
– Trump cannot stand up to Putin. This is a major problem for the United States and NATO. Trump’s weakness strengthens Putin’s power of action.
Not even harsh criticism from his opponents can get Trump out on the field.
Joe Biden yesterday accused Trump of “being an accomplice” through his silence. Hillary Clinton accused the president of “doing nothing” despite evidence that Russia was behind the Navalny poisoning.
At an election rally in Pennsylvania yesterday, Trump’s only comment on the issue was that he “closes” every time he hears Russia mentioned.
The question is why?
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