Vladimir Putin Is Using Donald Trump To ‘Discredit America,’ Says Andrei Kozyrev
As The Inquisitr reported, Michael McFaul, former ambassador to Russia, suggested that Donald Trump‘s recent foreign policy scandals are benefitting Russian President Vladimir Putin for nothing in return for the United States. According to McFaul, Trump has “personalized, privatized, and deinstitutionalized” American foreign policy at the expense of U.S. national interests.
During an interview on CNN, Russia’s ex-foreign minister, Andrei Kozyrev, also spoke about the relationship between Trump and Putin and the U.S.’s foreign policy under Trump, Newsweek reports.
“At best it’s naïveté, but after three years in power—the naïveté is a little bit too much. Sometimes people who are newcomers, they come to White House.… They entertain some kind of naïve ideas.”
Kozyrev added that with the research of the CIA and State Department at his disposal, as well as three years of experience in office, his continued lack of judgment is “strange.”
When Kozyrev was asked whether Putin is “taking advantage” of Trump, he responded plainly.
“Well, of course,” he said.
“That’s what he does. He wants to discredit America, and that’s his aim: to paint America like not a leader of the free world.”
According to Kozyrev, Putin wants to paint Trump as a “commercial kind of small guy” that is seeking “immediate profit.”
#Russia's state TV segment is entitled: "Geopolitical loser: the United States has given a real gift to Putin." The hosts say that Trump's actions in #Syria resulted in an unprecedented deal between Russia and #Turkey, with the U.S. playing absolutely no part in their decisions. pic.twitter.com/dGNCl3mp4m
— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) October 23, 2019
Not everyone disagrees with Trump’s foreign policy. In an op-ed for Bloomberg, American-Israeli author Zev Chafets writes that Trump outsmarted Putin with his Syria withdrawal.
“Sooner or later, al-Qaeda, Islamic State or the next iteration of jihad will break loose in Syria. When that happens, the Russians will be the new Satan on the block. Their diplomats in Damascus will come under attack, as will Russian troops. More troops will be sent to defend them.”
Chafets adds that eventually, jihad will “inflame” Russia’s “large Muslim population,” making Moscow a terrorist target.
While both McFaul and Kozyrev appear to see the downsides of Trump’s foreign policy and its benefit to Russia, the president faces an impeachment probe for two foreign policy scandals — his phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he pressured Zelensky to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from northern Syria.
Former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry recently said that the evidence against Trump is “more powerful” than the evidence in the probe into Richard Nixon, which pushed the latter to resign from his position. Despite this evidence, Trump recently suggested that he doesn’t need an impeachment team, which allegedly has Republicans concerned.
