Mitch McConnell Flouts Trump, Again Says Russia Should Not Be Allowed in G7

Newsweek ^ | June 30 2020 | JEFFERY MARTIN

[rintintin]

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell flatly rejected on Tuesday the idea of Russia rejoining the Group of Seven (G7). President Donald Trump has suggested allowing Russia to be readmitted to the group of world leaders after it was ousted in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea.

[married21]

Wonder if Trump just sucks up to Putin sometimes because it may irk China.

[AndyJackson]

So is it G7+1=G8 or G6+1=G7

[Zhang Fei]

Trump’s world’s greatest salesman routine is wearing thin. He’s not convincing Putin to pull out of Crimea or the part of Ukraine it occupies anytime soon. This is basically Trump’s version of Dubya’s “I looked into his eyes and saw his soul”, after a meeting with Putin. McCain’s put-down of the experience is apt: “I looked into his eyes and saw three letters, a K, a G and a B”. He ain’t gonna persuade the Korean dwarf blimp to give up his nukes either. Or get Xi to stop sticking it to American companies voluntarily.

All this servility does is make him look weak. He’s been very hard-line on foreign policy vis-a-vis the country’s adversaries. He should take credit for it with Reagan-style rhetoric. Instead of “my very good friend Xi Jinping/Kim Jong-un/Vladimir Putin”, it should be “Mr. Xi/Kim/Putin, tear down this wall”, or whatever pablum his hired wordsmiths can summon up.

[Lod881019]

Amazed how many people bought the false narrative that it’s 1985 again...then again Vladimir knows this and he knows a Biden presidency pretty much allows him to do whatever he wants overseas

[UncleDenny77]

Just yesterday, Cocaine Mitch wanted everybody to wear face diapers.

[sam_whiskey]

So you buy into the narrative that he sucks up to Putin? Nice.

[JonPreston]

I trust Putin and Russia more than McConnell and this Chinese held, Republican senate.

[Alberta's Child]

The U.S. has very little leverage with Russia, since they aren’t a major trading partner like China. And it’s a dying country anyway, so I honestly don’t understand all this fixation on Russia.

Let’s face it ... the only reason Russia is still considered an “adversary” by the political class in this country is that it’s predominantly white — which makes it an acceptable political target.

[rockinqsranch]

It certainly irks the news media, and the Democrats.

[Zhang Fei]

[Wonder if Trump just sucks up to Putin sometimes because it may irk China.]

---

Trump has this world’s greatest salesman conceit. He thinks he can sell ice to Eskimos. Putin’s never gonna be a friend of the US. That’s because the US is the major power in the way of his territorial ambitions. Without Uncle Sam in the way, he could probably reconstitute the old Tsarist empire, some of which fell away with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. That includes all of the stans, the Ukraine, Belorussia and the Baltics. Unless we agree to Russia acquiring those lands and perhaps those of the Warsaw Pact, the US and Russia are never gonna be friends. And even then, Russia’s not exactly known for being content with its holdings, in times of strength:

https://www.timemaps.com/history/russia-750ad/

For now, the Chinese and the Russians have a tacit agreement - the Russians will expand in one direction, and the Chinese will expand in another. Unless the US gives the Russians the green light to acquire Europe in its entirety, relations between the two countries are always going to be testy.

[married21]

Sometimes he sounds like it. I am thinking that when he uses flattery or whatever on foreign leaders he is not sincerely dazzled by them, but is trying a strategy of some kind.

[Zhang Fei]

[the only reason Russia is still considered an “adversary” by the political class in this country is that it’s predominantly white — which makes it an acceptable political target. ]

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Russia has the most powerful military in Europe. And it just acquired a sizeable chunk of real estate in Ukraine. The area occupied isn’t massive - the size of the Netherlands. But it was aiming for all of Ukraine, which is the size of France.

[Seruzawa]

If Russia didn’t have nukes no one would care a fig.

[rintintin]

Russia is no longer communist. It’s officially Christian. And they don’t allow gay adoption

With all that, are you surprised that our elites hate Russia?

[SmokingJoe]

He’s not convincing Putin to pull out of Crimea or the part of Ukraine it occupies anytime soon

Except that the Crimea has been part of Russia since 1783, and was only gifted to the Ukraine by Stalin in 1954, at a time when both Ukraine and Russia were part of the USSR. Ukraine has no historic claim to the Crimea. The Russians simply took back what belonged to them. Most of the people in the Crimea are Russian. The Crimea has been part of Russia for far longer than it's been a part of the Ukraine.
I don't see what the fuss is about.

[SmokingJoe]

The number one reason Russia is a world power is because they have the world's mightiest and most deadly nuclear arsenal.
It is always a good idea to keep the Russians close.
The Democrats have been wetting their pants over Russia merely in cynical plot to overthrow Trump with that fake Russian collusion nonsense.
Trump has been infinitely tougher on Russia than Obama, Hilary Clinton and John Kerry were.
The past four years have been wasted for nothing.

[Zhang Fei]

[Except that the Crimea has been part of Russia since 1783, and was only gifted to the Ukraine by Stalin in 1954, at a time when both Ukraine and Russia were part of the USSR. Ukraine has no historic claim to the Crimea. The Russians simply took back what belonged to them. Most of the people in the Crimea are Russian. The Crimea has been part of Russia for far longer than it’s been a part of the Ukraine.
I don’t see what the fuss is about. ]

---

Bringing up Russian talking points doesn’t really resolve the issue. Ukraine has been part of Russia since 1686. So perhaps Ukraine should be part of Russia. And Finland was conquered by Russia in 1809. So maybe Finland should simply resign itself to being a Russian oblast. Come to think of it - the Ottoman Empire owned Crimea for over 300 years, longer than it has ever been in Russia’s possession.

So maybe it should be Turkish territory. The point being that we are supposed to have moved into an era in which countries don’t acquire land by force. Because the moment that happens, then it is legit to punish the aggressor and break his country up, as was done to the Axis powers after WWII.

[Alberta's Child]

NATO has added 12 new member states since Germany was re-unified. It’s remarkable that anyone here would still consider Russia a major threat — especially when we’ve been using their rockets and the former Soviet launch facilities in Kazakhstan to get our astronauts into space for years.

[JonPreston]

Russia has the most powerful military in Europe.

No, America does thanks to our continued propping up of NATO (hey, where did that peace dividend go when the wall came down?). Stop sounding like Max Boot, and more like a critical thinking American.