Andrew S. Weiss Profile picture
Jul 18, 2018 9 tweets 2 min read Read on X
Once again: Trump is parroting Kremlin talking points. Who on earth could have planted this riff in his head about tiny Montenegro possibly starting World War III? #ThisIsNotNormal 🤔1/
Trump was asked by Tucker Carlson: "Let’s say Montenegro — which joined [NATO] last year — is attacked. Why should my son go to Montenegro to defend it from attack?” 2/
Trump responds: "I’ve asked the same question. You know, Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people… they might get aggressive, and congratulations, you’re in World War 3." 3/
Funny thing: back in April when Trump was insisting "Nobody has been tougher on Russia," the White House issued a press release to back that claim up. It was entitled: "President Donald J. Trump Is Standing Up To Russia’s Malign Activities" whitehouse.gov/briefings-stat… 4/
In the section on "Responding to Russian Aggression," Trump's team explains that "Russia has led a sustained global campaign to undermine the sovereignty and security of the United States and our allies." So far, so good. 5/
Their indictment of Russian actions is comprehensive and, quite commendably, pulls no punches. "Russia interfered in Western democratic elections in 2016 and 2017" "For more than a decade, Russia has assassinated opponents across the world" 6/
In the section describing Russia's 2007 cyber attacks vs Estonia, 2008 war in Georgia, and 2014 invasion of #Ukraine, there's a line that has also been hammered home by none other than VP Pence: Russia also " supported a coup attempt in Montenegro in 2016" 7/
Senior members of this administration for 18 months have insisted that we should simply tune out the crazy pro-Russian stuff Trump says and look at the "actual" policy. 8/
That facade is over. END/

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More from @andrewsweiss

Jan 14, 2019
THREAD: Has anyone noticed the very disturbing overlap between Trump’s insistence on preventing his own staff from learning about discussions with Putin at the Hamburg G20 meeting in July 2017 and how he handled initial revelations about the infamous Trump Tower meeting? 1/
Consider the following timeline: on July 7–8, 2017,Trump attends the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany the site of his first face to face encounter with Putin. 2/
On the morning of July 7, 2017, the New York Times informs the White House--for the first time--that it has learned about the Trump Tower meeting between Don Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort and a Russian lawyer with Russian government connections, Natalya Veselnitskaya. 3/
Read 20 tweets
Aug 30, 2018
Wow. Without fanfare, a comprehensive archive of White House documents covering nearly all of Bill Clinton’s meetings and phone calls with Boris Yeltsin from 1993-1999 has been declassified and is now online. clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/575… 1/
These previously close-hold memcons, talking points, discussion papers, and diplomatic messages reveal how high-level diplomacy and the national security bureaucracy actually worked at key moments in history. 2/
The roughly 1,000 pages of documents, incl internal NSC/State Dept memos, cover a great many issues that are still front and center in US-Russian relations (Ukraine, regional conflicts, the foibles and shenanigans of Russian oligarchs, nuclear weapons, the Middle East). 3/
Read 11 tweets
Jul 19, 2018
Sometimes @realDonaldTrump doesn't get enough credit for being transparent about his secret dealings with Putin, including this week's meeting in Helsinki. 1/
Consider this eye-popping exchange with Sean Hannity on Monday about teaming up with Russia on terrorism and to stop “proxy wars.” foxnews.com/transcript/201… 2/
Trump’s answer makes it clear he’s talking about teaming up with Russian in the Middle East and Syria where, U.S. and Russian interests are, putting it mildly, far from congruent. 3/
Read 11 tweets
Jul 16, 2018
Must-read: FBI counter-intelligence agent's affidavit in connection with Maria Butina's arrest for seeking to influence US politics at direction of Russian government. This is how it works 1/ justice.gov/opa/press-rele…
FBI special agent explains what Russian influence operations are, the strategic intent behind and why Russian penetrations of US political institutions and policymaking circles are dangerous 2/
The FBI agent details how Butina, working at the direction of senior Russian government official Aleksandr Torshin sought to penetrate senior GOP circles and the NRA leadership. It covers activities from March 2015 onward 3/
Read 11 tweets
Jul 14, 2018
Key point in this excellent thread by Moscow-based @AlexGabuev: Putin had ample warning from within his own govt that meddling in the 2016 election would be easily traceable and create unpredictable blowback for the Kremlin 1/
Why did Putin blaze such a reckless path? Partly it's because the lesson of the war in Ukraine was that risky undertakings can really pay off--esp if Russia's adversaries are afraid of escalation 2/
It also reflected Putin's conviction that US-EU policy during this period (2014-2016) aimed at nothing less than actively seeking the overthrow of his regime. Kremlin fears of color revolution run deep 3/
Read 11 tweets
Mar 1, 2018
“Our longstanding rival Russia is exploiting a new playbook to divide us from within and to separate us from our allies” @MarkWarner #GlobalRussia
“Mr. Putin has at his disposal a wide array of nonconventional tools...these are designed to help Russia undermine its enemies in the West....many are deployed by non-state surrogates” @MarkWarner #GlobalRussia
“We are now engaged in a war in the shadows. I am not convinced we are winning” @MarkWarner #GlobalRussia
Read 13 tweets

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