Two Russias Confound US Policy         07/01 06:30

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- When it comes to Russia, the Trump administration just 
can't seem to make up its mind.

   For the past three years, the administration has careered between President 
Donald Trump's attempts to curry favor and friendship with Vladimir Putin and 
longstanding deep-seated concerns about Putin's intentions. As Trump has 
repeatedly and openly cozied up to Putin, his administration has imposed harsh 
and meaningful sanctions and penalties on Russia.

   The dizzying, often contradictory, paths followed by Trump on the one hand 
and his hawkish but constantly changing cast of national security aides on the 
other have created confusion in Congress and among allies and enemies alike. To 
an observer, Russia is at once a mortal enemy and a misunderstood friend in 
U.S. eyes.

   Even before Trump took office questions about Russia abounded. Now, nearing 
the end of his first term with a difficult reelection ahead, those questions 
have resurfaced with a vengeance. Intelligence suggesting Russia was 
encouraging attacks on U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan by putting 
bounties on their heads has thrust the matter into the heart of the 2020 
campaign.

   The White House says the intelligence wasn't confirmed or brought to Trump's 
attention, but his vast chorus of critics are skeptical and maintain the 
president should have been aware.

   The reports have alarmed even pro-Trump Republicans who see Russia as a 
hostile global foe meddling with nefarious intent in Afghanistan, the Middle 
East, Ukraine and Georgia, a waning former superpower trying to regain its 
Soviet-era influence by subverting democracy in Europe and the United States 
with disinformation and election interference.

   Trump's overtures to Putin have unsettled longstanding U.S. allies in 
Europe, including Britain, France and Germany, which have expressed concern 
about the U.S. commitment to the NATO alliance, which was forged to counter the 
Soviet threat, and robust democracy on the continent.

   But Trump has defended his perspective on Russia, viewing it as a 
misunderstood potential friend, a valued World War II ally led by a wily, 
benevolent authoritarian who actually may share American values, like the 
importance of patriotism, family and religion.

   Trump's approach to Russia was at center stage in the impeachment 
proceedings, when U.S. officials testified that the president demanded 
political favors from Ukraine in return for military assistance it needed to 
combat Russian aggression. But the issue ended up as a largely partisan 
exercise, with House Democrats voting to impeach Trump and Senate Republicans 
voting to acquit.

   Within the Trump administration, the national security establishment appears 
torn between pursuing an arguably tough approach to Russia and pleasing the 
president. Insiders who have raised concern about Trump's approach to Russia 
--- including at least one of his national security advisers, defense 
secretaries and secretaries of state, but especially lower-level officials who 
spoke out during impeachment --- have nearly all been ousted from their 
positions.

   Suspicions about Trump and Russia go back to his 2016 campaign. His appeal 
to Moscow to dig up his opponent's emails, his plaintive suggestions that 
Russia and the United States should be friends and a series of contacts between 
his advisers and Russians raised questions of impropriety that led to special 
counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. The investigation ultimately did not 
allege that anyone associated with the campaign illegally conspired with Russia.

   Mueller, along with the U.S. intelligence community, did find that Russia 
interfered with the election, to sow chaos and also help Trump's campaign. But 
Trump has cast doubt on those findings, most memorably in a 2018 appearance on 
stage with Putin in Helsinki.

   Yet despite Trump's rhetoric, his administration has plowed ahead with some 
of the most significant actions against Russia by any recent administration.

   Dozens of Russian diplomats have been expelled, diplomatic missions closed, 
arms control treaties the Russians sought to preserve have been abandoned, 
weapons have been sold to Ukraine despite the impeachment allegations and the 
administration is engaged in a furious battle to prevent Russia from 
constructing a new gas pipeline that U.S. lawmakers from both parties believe 
will increase Europe's already unhealthy dependence on Russian energy.

   At the same time, Trump has compounded the uncertainty by calling for the 
withdrawal or redeployment of U.S. troops from Germany, angrily deriding NATO 
allies for not meeting alliance defense spending commitments, and now 
apparently ignoring dire intelligence warnings that Russia was paying or wanted 
to pay elements of the Taliban to kill American forces in Afghanistan.

   On top of that, even after the intelligence reports on the Afghanistan 
bounties circulated, he's expressed interest in inviting Putin back into the 
G-7 group of nations over the objections of the other members.

   White House officials and die-hard Trump supporters have shrugged off the 
obvious inconsistencies, but they have been unable to staunch the swell of 
criticism and pointed demands for explanations as Russia, which has vexed 
American leaders for decades, delights in its ability to create chaos.