Defying a belligerent Congress, 71-year-old President Donald Trump gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a CIA tip about a planned terror attack in St. Petersburg’s Kazan Cathedral. Acting quickly, Putin called Trump to announce all would-be Mideast terrorists were thwarted, averting a civilian massacre. “Based on the information the United States provided, Russian authorities were able to capture the terrorists just prior to an attack that could have killed large number of people,” said a White House statement. If there’s anything to end Washington’s toxic Russian atmosphere, sharing intel to stop a possible terrorist attack did the trick. Since Trump beat former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Nov. 8, 2016, he’s been accused by partisans in Congress of colluding with Russia to win the election, preventing the president from improving U.S.-Russian relations.
Even today, with Special Counsel former FBI Director Robert Mueller investigating alleged White House ties to the Kremlin, it’s been difficult for Trump to engage in “linkage” with his Russian counterparts. Suspicions on Capitol Hill are at Cold War levels, accusing the White House of cozying up to Putin. Hillary made her close at the end of her campaign Trump’s alleged ties to Russia, telling a debate audience Oct. 19, that Trump was a “Putin puppet.” Since then, Democrats in Congress have been relentless pursuing investigations into alleged Trump ties with Moscow. While nothing’s turned up in a year-and-a-half of investigations, the atmosphere in Washington to rehab U.S.-Russian ties could not be worse. Putin’s phone call of gratitude to Trump shows that the two superpowers can cooperate on important global matters, this time preventing a terror attack in a St. Petersburg church.
If Congress could control its Russian hysteria and obsession with impeaching Trump, they’d see the importance of the U.S. reestablishing strong ties with Moscow. Under former President Barack Obama U.S.-Russia relations hit Cold War lows. Obama had no rapport with Putin for whatever reason. Too busy countering Putin supplying arms-and-cash to rebels to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Obama sacrificed U.S.-Russian relations. Putin’s Sept. 30, 2015 intervention in Syria turned the tide on the Saudi-U.S.-funded proxy war against al-Assad. Obama could never admit defeat for his failed Syria policy. Only after he was sworn it Jan. 20, 2017, did Trump change the U.S. policy, focusing the U.S. military on defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS]. With ISIS all but defeated, the U.S. has a real opportunity to find common ground with Moscow on urgent global issues.
Working on disarming North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un of his nukes and ballistic missiles, Trump’s let the world know that he means business preventing Kim from getting an operational nuke-ready ICBM. With North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho saying Sept. 23 it’s “inevitable” North Korean missiles would hit the U.S. mainland, Trump’s got a short window to prevent this nightmare. Applying maximum pressure North Korea to comply with U.N. resolutions calling for nuclear disarmament, China has tried but failed to deter Pyongyang. Short of a total oil embargo, China hasn’t made enough headway getting Kim to halt his nuke and ballistic missile program. Today’s development in Russia opens the door for Putin to get more involved in pressuring Kim to abandon his nuclear weapons. Whether he succeeds or not in convincing Kim, having Putin on the U.S. side can’t be underestimated.
Most military experts view a war with North Korea as causing mass casualties and disrupting world economic markets. If Putin can prevail on Kim, he’d go a long way in preventing a new conflict on the Korean Peninsula. As much as the U.S.—and the world—wants to avoid war on the Korean Peninsula, Trump’s set his red line with North Korea developing a nuke-ready ICBM. Sending U.N. Under-Secretary Jeffrey Feltman to Pyongyang Dec. 10 for two days of talks about its nuke and ballistic missile program underscores the grave danger of a war in 2018. Having better linkage with Putin helps avert a possible military conflict if Kim refuses to give up his nukes and ballistic missiles. Putin praised Trump in his year-end press conference Dec. 15 improving the U.S. economy, something disputed by Democrats. Democrats want to keep the Russian probe going to help their chances 2018 Midterm elections.
Congress needs to stop its wild speculation about Russian meddling and alleged Trump collusion in the 2016 election to deal with pressing U.S. national security issues. Preventing war on the Korean Peninsula should be the top priority, not scoring political points ahead of the 2018 Midterm elections. Given the urgent national security threats, Trump deserves full cooperation from Congress, not the partisan witch-hunt threatening U.S. national security. “The information received from the CIA proved sufficient to find and detain the criminal suspects,” said the Kremlin, expressing gratitude to Trump for helping intercept a possible St. Petersburg terror attack. Democrats can’t stomach the fact Trump has a cooperative working relationship with Putin, something Obama didn’t. Preventing a terror attack in St. Petersburg gives Trump political capital in the Kremlin, getting Putin’s help in North Korea.
