Speaking to Reuters on Wednesday, President Trump indicated he has woken up to Russian game playing on North Korea.
Lamenting the fact that North Korea's ability to strike the U.S. homeland with a nuclear warhead is "getting closer every day," Trump added that "Russia is not helping us at all with North Korea." And while the president also claimed that China is helping the U.S. on North Korea (which is incorrect), his recognition of Russian obstruction is welcome.
Because even without access to the intelligence that Trump receives each day, it's been very obvious for months that Russian President Vladimir Putin has no interest in cooperating on the North Korea issue.
This is not surprising, of course. On the contrary, it is highly rational.
As I explained last November, the Russian government greatly enjoys seeing the U.S. suffer under the specter of a North Korean ICBM+nuclear warhead armed adversary. After all, if the U.S. is challenged by North Korea, its ability to practice power elsewhere is commensurately reduced. This gives Russia space and flexibility to pursue its strategic objectives in Europe and the Middle East.
More broadly though, it's good news that the president is beginning to recognize the fundamental divergences between U.S. and Russian interests around the world. That should allow the president to make better foreign policy choices and deal more effectively with Russian attempts to manipulate him.
