The Trump White House is taking stock of what it sees as a solid seven days for its national security and geopolitical policies. “It’s difficult to portray this as anything but a really great week,” said one senior administration official on Wednesday.
From a successful strike on a Syrian airfield to productive conversations between President Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping, the White House sees positive development on most fronts for its foreign policy.
Take Wednesday’s United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons, which was sponsored by the United States. China, a permanent member of the Security Council that often thwarts U.N. measures supported by Western allies, abstained from the vote. The senior administration official called it “another significant victory for all civilized peoples because it really showed how isolated the Assad regime and its international sponsors.”
The only problem? Russia, Bashar al-Assad’s most important ally and another permanent member, vetoed the resolution. But for an administration that has faced numerous foreign policy issues while being understaffed and inexperienced, this is what counts for a “really great week.”
A “Low Point” with Russia
But despite the positive assessments, even top administration officials, including the president himself, are willing to admit this: U.S. relations with Russia have cooled considerably. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who met briefly with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow Wednesday before a longer meeting with foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, put it bluntly in a joint press conference with Lavrov.
“The current state of U.S.-Russia relations is at a low point,” Tillerson said. “There is a low level of trust between our countries.”
Later on Wednesday, President Trump said in a joint press conference with NATO general secretary Jens Stoltenberg, that he believed Tillerson’s meetings in Moscow were “very successful.” But Trump also added, “Right now, we’re not getting along with Russia at all. We may be at an all-time low in terms of a relationship with Russia.”
The low level of trust stems chiefly from the belief within the administration that Russian officials knowingly lied on behalf of the Assad regime regarding the chemical attacks last week. Since then, the Russians vetoed the U.N. resolution condemning the attack and Putin has publicly said the attacks were “fake.”
Bannon Out Soon?
Steve Bannon, the self-proclaimed economic nationalist who began his stint at the White House as one of Trump’s most trusted and ideologically aligned advisers, appears to be losing more and more confidence from the president. Here’s the New York Times:
Song of the Day
“Gone Gone Gone,” Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.
