Posted on 01/11/2017 7:27:44 AM PST by SeekAndFind
In his first public remarks as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be secretary of state, former ExxonMobile chief executive Rex Tillerson will say he believes Russia is “a danger” and that NATO allies are right to be alarmed by its aggression. But he makes no mention of Moscow’s interference in the U.S. election campaign or the future of U.S. sanctions.
“I come before you at a pivotal time in both the history of our nation and our world,” Tillerson will testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday morning in an opening statement that lays out a realist and tough view of foreign affairs. “Nearly everywhere we look, people and nations are deeply unsettled. Old ideas and international norms which were well-understood and governed behaviors in the past may no longer be effective in our time.” I obtained a copy of the statement.
Tillerson will talk about several challenges in his opening remarks: an economically powerful China that is expanding militarily, the spread of radical Islam, Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Russian interference in Europe and beyond. His message on Russia will be much tougher than that of his new boss.
“While Russia seeks respect and relevance on the global stage, its recent activities have disregarded American interests,” he will testify. “Russia must know that we will be accountable to our commitments and those of our allies, and that Russia must be held to account for its actions.”
The United States should be clear-eyed about Russia and its various activities that are destabilizing countries in its near abroad and the Middle East, according to Tillerson.
“Russia today poses a danger, but it is not unpredictable in advancing its own interests. It has invaded Ukraine, including the taking of Crimea, and supported Syrian forces that brutally violate the laws of war,”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I am casually listening to the SOS hearing.
Marco Rubio is an azzhole. What the hell is he doing?
what in the heck is going on with Rubio trying to get Tillerson to say he would ask Trump to sign off on a massive power grab by Congress by putting sanctions on autopilot?!
My thoughts exactly.
The Syrian forces bit isn’t what I was expecting.
Little Marco is nothing but a #nevertrump. His day is coming.
Over the years I have gone back and forth on my opinion of Rubio. This questioning settles it- he is a POS. The problem, obviously, is that crap like this from Republicans will make things very difficult for Donald Trump.
Well of course he would say that. What would you expect him to say; that we should give them a pass? But that has no bearing whatever on the Fake News lies that they hacked our election.
One might surmise that Rubio is a paid-off, wholly owned Cheap Labor Express pimp.
Of course Russia should be held to account for its actions.
But Russia was NOT acting to throw the election to Donald Trump. If anything, they were expecting, like a good many Americans, that Hillary Clinton would win, because, after all, all the smart money was on her side, the American public has been conditioned to accept almost any rationalization for things to NOT be her fault, and Trump was obviously completely out of touch with the American voter.
No question that the Russians were completely informed of just about every one of the DNC memos and whatever Hillary was keeping on her secret server, almost from day one of her term as Secretary of State. This was just all too easy.
But the Russians had no reason to disclose to ANYBODY the information they had collected, as almost all of this could be used against a President Clinton once she took office. A quiet discussion with a courier that would appear in the Oval Office, and suddenly US international policy would make a complete about-face, conforming to just about anything the Russians would consider practical from their point of view. They would have used the accumulated information to blackmail Hillary over and over. Even George Soros could not have prevented the mounting pressure.
But the Russians were not the only ones who were regularly (and perhaps even more vigorously) pursuing the collection of intelligence against the DNC and Hillary. And these players would have no qualms whatsoever about revealing this information publicly, which they did, at the most embarrassing moments possible for the Clinton and Democratic campaigns in general.
Upshot - Trump won the Presidency rather convincingly, the Senate was still held in Republican hands, and a comfortable margin was retained in the House of Representatives. More importantly, hundreds of state legislators and a couple dozen governorships among the various states are now firmly in Republican (and presumedly somewhat more conservative) hands.
It made America great again.
[What the hell is he doing?]
He’s doing the exact thing he did during the debates, making the same statements and asking the same questions again and again and again with expectations of a different answer.
Tillerson looks like an amazingly competent nominee.
Judging from the current statements and questions from the swamp dwellers at the hearings are trying convince us and the world that the job of THIS nominee for SoS will be confined to just one country...Russia.
Their mission to undermine Tillerson is obvious.
It seems he’s been reassuring to those who don’t accept the idea that Putin is a benign president for life.
Even though PEOTUS Trump just opined that he thinks it was Russia?
Trump thinks Russia got him elected? I’m not buying that..
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