Expelling Russian diplomats, slapping Moscow with more sanctions and taking his parting shot at Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Barack Obama showed why he’d be better off playing golf for his last three weeks in office. Pushing U.S.-Russian relations to the brink, Barack piled on Putin one last time, joining forces with President-elect Donald Trump’s detractors on Capitol Hill. Barack timed his new sanctions to Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham’s trip to the Baltic States and Ukraine. McCain and Graham agree with Obama on punishing Putin for suspected hacking of the Democratic National Committee and Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 67-year-old Campaign Chairman John D. Podesta. Whoever hacked the emails, it exposed dirty tricks inside the Hillary campaign, something Obama blames on Putin.
Obama’s latest move to sanction Russia falls closely on the inept move in the U.N. Security Council to lash out at Israel, passing U.N. Resolution 2334, condemning Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Whatever Obama does in his current lame-duck status, it’s bound to create headaches for Trump. Showing that he trusts the change of direction Jan. 20, 2017, Putin said he’d hold off on retaliating in-kind for Obama’s latest sanctions. “Great move on delay [by V. Putin]—I always knew he was very smart,” Trump tweeted today. Trump’s bound to antagonize McCain and Graham, both of whom despise Trump, constituting what’s left of the “Never Trump” movement. Joining forces to rip Putin, Obama, McCain and Graham make strange bedfellows when you consider their politics. McCain and Graham want even tougher sanctions against Putin.
McCain and Graham aim to sabotage Trump’s attempt to reset U.S.-Russia relations, preserving, as long a possible, the Cold War. When you consider most countries hack each other’s computer systems, it’s not so unusual for adversaries to spy on each other. Spying before the computer age involved old methods of information gathering, including, in extreme cases sleeping with enemy. Trump said yesterday that computers leave all countries vulnerable to security risks. McCain and Graham, without supplying proof to the public, have tried-and-convicted Putin of cyber warfare against the United States. Whistleblowing Web site WikiLeaks’s exiled founder Julian Assange denied getting hacked emails from Russia, though didn’t deny that it might have been plucked off U.S. computers by Russian hackers. McCain and Graham, both former presidential candidates, want to dictate U.S. foreign policy.
Trump’s made clear during the 2016 race he intends to reset U.S.-Russian relations. He believes in the old fashioned concept of linkage, where sound diplomatic relations with one country can help with hot spots around the planet. If Obama had stronger ties with Putin, he might have applied more leverage with China, North Korea and Mideast. Without a solid relationship with Moscow, it’s difficult for the U.S. to conduct global national security. Failures of National Security Advisor Susan Rice and National Security Agency chief Adm. Michael Rogers have less to do with Putin than U.S. officials asleep at the switch. Obama, McCain and Graham don’t see the big picture of creating a sold diplomatic relationship with Russia. If Obama had a better relationship with Putin, he probably wouldn’t have leaked Russian hacking during the 2016 election or at least it’s a good bet.
Piling on more sanctions only creates a more adversarial relationship with Putin, already reeling from U.S. and EU sanctions for invading Crimea March 1, 2014. Meeting with the Baltic States and Ukraine, McCain and Graham continue to stir the pot, looking sabotage Trump’s attempt to set U.S. foreign policy. Graham, who lost to Trump and dropped out after New Hampshire Feb. 5, 2016, wants nothing more than to obstruct Trump’s foreign policy. When Trump takes his left hand off the bible Jan. 20, 2017, the real battle with Graham and McCain begins. While there’s a place for input into U.S. foreign policy by U.S. senators, only the commander-in-chief sets foreign policy through the State Department. Whipping up more anti-Putin sentiment in the Baltic States and Ukraine, McCain and Graham do nothing but harm U.S. national security interfering with the new president’s plans.
Showing restraint over retaliating in-kind in response to Obama’s new sanctions, Putin’s shows he trusts Trump to do the right thing. Whether or not Russian officials hacked in the 2016 election, Obama’s national security team should have handled the security breach. Whoever did nefarious activity at the DNC or in Hillary’s campaign must stand accountable for what they did, not blame Putin or anyone else. Asked about McCain and Graham’s efforts to seek more Russian sanctions, Trump sounded skeptical. “It’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things,” said Trump, throwing cold water on McCain and Graham’s efforts to keep the hacking controversy going. “Nevertheless, in the interest of our country and its great people, I will meet with leaders of the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the facts of this situation,” said Trump, sounding presidential.
