I cannot understand how Donald Trump can blame Congress for the state of the relations between the U.S. and Russia.
Mr. Trump had not yet been in office one month and Russia had already sent a spy ship to cruise offshore our East Coast and ordered Russian jets to buzz American vessels in neutral waters. Worse still, by Feb. 14 the administration had already admitted that the Russians had deployed intermediate range missiles in direct violation of the historic 1987 treaty. These missiles put all of Europe at risk.
By March it was known that the Russians were arming the Taliban in Afghanistan with rifles and medium and heavy machine guns. By the G-20 Summit in July, we already knew that Russia had tried to meddle with the French and German elections in addition to our own election with their program of cyber-aggression.
There is no doubt about any of this in the minds of the 17 intelligence agencies serving the president. Nor does Defense Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson or Vice President Mike Pence have any doubts or illusions about the threat that Russia poses to us. It is only President Trump who refuses to take off his rose-colored glasses, and his lack of action and conviction on this point is truly alarming.
I urge everyone with the similar concerns to express them to the White House by email (whitehouse.gov/contact/write-or-call) or phone (202-456-1111).
JOHN MIER
Leetsdale
Note from KBJ: Stop beating war drums, John.
