Posted on 03/26/2018 6:41:11 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
President Trump on Monday ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian intelligence officers in the United States and the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle in response to the nerve agent attack on an ex-Russian spy in the U.K. earlier this month, senior administration officials said.
The steps, following Britain's expulsion of Russian diplomats, are meant to send a message to Moscow that actions have consequences, the officials said. The Seattle consulate is being closed because of its proximity to submarine bases, as well as Boeing.
“With these steps, the United States and our allies and partners make clear to Russia that its actions have consequences,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said. “The United States stands ready to cooperate to build a better relationship with Russia, but this can only happen with a change in the Russian government’s behavior.”
Russia, which has been blamed for the attack, has denied wrongdoing.
Officials said a total of 60 Russians are being expelled, including 48 at the Russian embassy and 12 at the United Nations. The individuals and their families have been given seven days to leave the United States.
"Today, the United States began the process of expelling 12 intelligence operatives from the Russian Mission to the United Nations who have abused their privilege of residence in the United States," UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said Monday. "After a review, we have determined that the 12 intelligence operatives engaged in espionage activities that are adverse to our national security."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
But...but... isn’t Trump “Putin’s Puppet”? (sarcasm off)
...intelligence officers ...
Huh? Who let them in?
Seattle? Wouldn’t it be simpler to declare it foreign soil and build a wall around it?
He’s inviting Putin to go ahead and dismiss sixty US State Department folks in Russia, and they will downsize the embassy with the help of Putin.
Russia critic John Bolton has already taken over the USA’s foreign policy?
Or is DJT just up to 4-D chess again?
President Trump is not skeptical enough of those with a globalist agenda. We first saw it in Saudi Arabia when he accepted the information he was given that blamed Assad for the use of nerve gas.
S**T
Trump is showing his Bolton.
Not a fan of the warmonger.
Must say I like how Trump has come around to many of my points of view.
Meanwhile many cult members remain cult members.
Maybe it made Trump look more suspicious to Mueller.
Hey! These are Russian Dreamers!
We can’t force them to leave the only democracy they’ve ever known.
They were forced to serve here. Perhaps give them an opportunity to find an appropriate visa in a different category...?
You do realize that Russia has poisoned quite a few people over the years.
Russia is also Fing around in the South China Sea with China.
It’s about American security interests and Russia, under Putin wants to return to a cold war, for respect.
If they want real respect, they need to drop the Iranians, Norks and Syrians as key allies lol.
Putin is a little man.
How sure are we that it was Russia who synthesized the Novichok? Or how sure we are as to exactly what nerve agent was used?
Before the democrats closed down most of our Navy bases in the San Francisco area, (Mare Island, Skaggs Island, Oakland and the E Bay Ammo storage area). This area was crawling with Russian spooks, supposedly their Embassy people.
Now a large % of our West Pac Naval bases are in the Seattle area. So, it must be crawling with Russian Spooks.
Understood, nor should any of us be a fan of a warmonger.
How do you feel about assertive self-defense?
Agreed.
I am not a politician but I knew Trump would develop a harsher stance because it reflects my own sort of “journey” with Russia. Pre-living there and post-living there.
Before I went to Russia: I had a far more neutral even positive-leaning view the country’s leadership and overall post-Soviet direction. (Despite knowing it is no democracy.)
One lives there, and learns. Despite its modern and even religious facades, the “evil empire” spirit is alive and well. The Soviet Union only collapsed territorially, not in spirit - and the tsarist past haunts the place.
Trump and Europe are doing right. It’s better for Russian people in the long-run too — that the world is holding their leadership/criminal oligarchy to account.
I’m a bit of an outlier here as I have never been a big Trump fan, but I will give a polite nod here. This needed to be done. Putin has been getting way too pushy of late and killing political opponents on the soil of allied countries demands a response. But Bolton is still a bad appointment.
They’re ALL intelligence officers.
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