Russia is upset that Rex Tillerson would dare say that U.S. Russia relations are poor, which kinda proves that our relations are kinda poor, right?
Here’s what got them so upset:
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US and Russia have a “poor relationship,” a declaration made in a year-end New York Times op-ed he wrote assessing the State Department during his 2017 tenure.
Tillerson’s piece for the Thursday morning edition of the Times maintained the balance he has sought to strike in public on Russia, navigating opposition to Russia for aggression while seeking potential cooperation on key issues.
“On Russia, we have no illusions about the regime we are dealing with,” Tillerson said. “The United States today has a poor relationship with a resurgent Russia that has invaded its neighbors Georgia and Ukraine in the last decade and undermined the sovereignty of Western nations by meddling in our election and others.”
Here’s what Russia responded:
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN there has never been “close cooperation” between the United States and Russia on Syria. Peskov directed specific inquiries on Tillerson’s op-ed to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“The political will to cooperate is needed on the Syrian arrangement, meanwhile there is no such cooperation,” Peskov said.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded to the piece at her weekly news briefing by calling it “confrontational” and “fake news.”
“It’s time for American politicians and diplomats to realize that nothing can be achieved from Russia by methods of power, economic influence and pressure, and the illusion that Washington’s policy is built on has long ago discredited itself in the international arena as well,” she said.
This is like a woman in a marriage going to counseling and the hubby angrily yelling to everyone that, “everything is OK really I swear!!”
But it also shows how schizophrenic and contradictory Trump’s administration can be – it’s a reflection of what happens when you govern without a firm ideology to establish your policy guidelines.