For Russia, Trump ‘God’s gift that keeps on giving’

MOSCOW: A note of glee crept into Russian commentary and news coverage on Friday about the current turmoil in Washington around national security, with President Vladimir Putin seemingly checking off one item after another that he might have written on his wishlist for Santa.

First, President Trump blindsided his aides and the rest of the world by deciding to pull the full contingent of some 2,000 US troops out of Syria, helping the Kremlin to confirm Putin’s gamble that intervening in Syria would revive Russian influence in West Asia. Trump followed that up by declaring the US would pull half its forces out of Afghanistan.

All that followed Trump’s already substantial effort to undermine Nato and the EU by weakening the US commitment to its traditional alliances. “Trump is God’s gift that keeps on giving,” said Vladimir Frolov, a Russian columnist and foreign affairs analyst. “Trump implements Russia’s negative agenda by default, undermining the US–led world order, US alliances, US credibility as a partner and an ally. All of this on his own. Russia can just relax and watch and root for Trump, which Putin does at every TV appearance.”

One headline in a Russian paper trumpeted, ‘Trump Leaves the Dog Out in the Cold,’, referring to Mad Dog, nickname of defence secretary Jim Mattis from his days in the Marines. Mattis resigned on Friday over the pullout from Syria. Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the international affairs panel in Russia’s upper house, wrote on Facebook that the differences in Washington were “an interesting signal, and moreover, a positive one”.

There was also positive news for Russia on the economic front, with US announcing that it intended to lift sanctions on Rusal, the Russian firm that dominates a large share of the world aluminum market.

“Once again we see a president who appears to be acting impulsively and erratically — except when it comes to Russia,” said Leslie Vinjamuri, a professor at SOAS University of London. “Here, Trump has been eerily consistent in his willingness to adopt policies that enable Russia’s strategy while undermining ours.”