Faced with Neocons in the U.S. Senate led by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Az.), President-elect Donald Trump has a uphill battle resetting U.S.-Russian relations. Allowed to deteriorate to Cold War lows, President Barack Obama hurt U.S. national security, tossing the concept of linkage out the window. Instead of finding common ground with the world’s most armed nuclear state, Obama instead allowed U.S.-Russian relations to hit rock bottom after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Crimea March 1, 2014. While Ukraine has almost zero national security significance to the U.S., Obama pushed the European Union to punish Russia with crippling economic sanctions. Obama can’t understand why Putin would respond to a Feb. 22, 2014 CIA-backed coup in Kiev that toppled the Kremlin-backed elected government of Viktor Yanukovich.
Instead of looking at the big picture, Obama instead continued to fight Russia by backing Saudi-funded terrorist groups seeking topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Called a Putin “puppet” by former Democratic nominee Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in the final Oct. 19 presidential debate, Trump rejected the charge. Hillary joined McCain in advocating a no-fly zone, despite objections from Obama’s Chairman of the Joint Chief’s of Staff Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, warning against a dangerous consequences. McCain urged Obama Oct. 12 to set up the no-fly zone and shoot down, if necessary, Syrian and Russian jets. Bringing Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (R-Hi.), a decorated Iraq War veteran, to Trump Tower for Cabinet consideration, Trump knows what he faces with McCain and other Neocons seeking more turmoil in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Gabbard serves on McCain’s committee but takes the polar opposite position of what to do in Syria. McCain backs various Saudi-funded terror groups seeking topple al-Assad. “I felt it important to take the opportunity to meet with President-elect now before the drumbeats of war that Neocons have been beating drag us into an escalation of war to overthrow the Syrian government,” Gabbard wrote, supporting Trump’s stated views on Iraq and Syria opposing more Mideast wars. Gabbard seized the chance to express her views on Syria to Trump, especially after Vice President-elect Mike Pence expressed the Neocon view Oct. 5 debating then Democratic VP-pick Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.). Gabbard resigned her position as Vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee once she knew former Chairman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fl.) stacked the deck against Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Unlike Obama and Hillary, Gabbard has no problems using the term Islamic terrorism, opposing White House immigration policies bringing in Syrian refugees. Meeting with Trump, Gabbard received flack from fellow Democrats, calling her opportunistic. “Throughout the election, Tulsi Gabbard never said one negative word about Trump. And you pretty much can’t say that about any other Democrat in the country,” said Shay Chan Hodges who lost to Gabbard in the Democratic primary. Gabbard met with Trump because she sees eye-to-eye with Trump on Syria, worried that Neocons on Capitol Hill will impose their will on Trump. While Trump named South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as U.N. Ambassador today, there are other places for someone as talented as Gabbard. Unlike other Democrats, Gabbard correctly sees war-and-peace as the most important issue.
Warning about a humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, U.N. Humanitarian Chief Stephen O’Brien told the U.N. Security Council Nov. 21 that food rations are running out in the besieged area. Accusing the Syria and Russia of more atrocities, O’Brien says nothing about the Saudi-U.S.-backed terrorists that have occupied Aleppo since 2012. Calling the air strikes in Aleppo “it is a deliberate tactic of cruelty to compound the people’s suffering for political, military and in some cases economic gain, to destroy and defeat a civilian population who cannot fight back,” O’Brien completely ignores the role of terrorists occupying Aleppo. Instead of working with Geneva-based U.N. Special Peace Envoy Staffan de Mistura to force terrorists out of Aleppo, O’Brien repeats the Saudi-U.S. talking points about the Syrian War. If terrorists seeking to oust al-Assad were out of Aleppo, the bombing would stop.
Giving Trump the unvarnished truth about Syria, Gabbard showed she isn’t intimidated by the Neocons on Capitol Hill looking for more Mideast wars. Gabbard’s a lone voice in Democratic circles that doesn’t buy the fraudulent story that the conflict in Syria is a genuine civil war. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has stated publicly many times that his government seeks nothing short of regime change in Damascus. Blaming the Syrian War on al-Assad does nothing other than blow smoke for the Saudis whose six-year-old proxy war hit a brick wall when Putin decided Sept. 30, 2015 to give al-Assad air support. Gabbard told Trump that if McCain gets his way, the U.S. is on its way to WWIII, a possible nuclear exchange with Russia. Trump needs to stick to his guns and tell Neocons on Capitol Hill that it’s time to restore favorable relations with Russia and end the war.
