The question is why has Mike Pence been seemingly out of the White House loop on the Russian connection controvers? Perhaps it goes back to the 2016 campaign when Pence parted ways with Trump on Russian policy. Going back to two prior postings on this blog, this has a history, including the Mike Flynn/Pence flap re: Pence saying Flynn lied to him. In these blogs are also references to the Russian connections in the 2016 campaign and possible financial entanglments with Russia in the Trump administration. Whether Pence took himself out of being involved in the Russian connection issue or if Trump did, is unknown. However, it may be Pence himself removing himself and the matter flared up when he accused Flynn of lying about the nature of his conversations with the Russian ambassador, that forced Trump to fire Flynn.
Blog Posting Oct. 5 2016
"One event in the Vice Presidential debate, October 4, was the position of GOP candidate Mike Pence regarding Russia. The comments on Russia got lost in Pence's absolute denial that Donal Trump ever said Russian President Vladimir Putin was a better leader than Pres. Obana. The quibble could be whether the correct term was "stronger". In any case, there is plenty of video available on Trump's comments which makes Pence look like a liar, albeit a smoothe one delivered with conviction.
What should also be the story is that Pence took a hard line on Russia saying we should stand up to them.. This deserves some closer scrutiny and looks like there is a division on foreign policy between the two running mates. Take a look at the debate as can be accessed via You Tube regarding Pence's views of Russia incursions into the Crimea, Ukraine and Georgia...a great contrast from Trump's prior statements.
What does count in 2016 ,however, is Trump's position, though Pence might use his own quotes in his own future campaigns.
It stands in sharp contrast with the GOP presidential candidate himself, Donald Trump, who has been advocating a foreign policy that strangely runs parallel to the same as Russia's, from declaring NATO obsolete, not objecting to the Russian threats and incursions into Eastern Ukraine, and recognizing Russia's grab of the Crimea. In fact, the mutual comments between Trump and Putin have been so complimentary that it has been timed a "bromance" of mutual admiration.
Not only is this a major issue in foreign policy, but in calls into question whether Trump can even negotiate with Putin in America's and our alliies' security interests without giving away the store to Russia. Negotiation means give and take and the question remains what Trump would give away to make a deal.
http://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2016/09/trumps-foreign-policy-make-russia-great.html
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/vice-presidential-debate-putin-mike-pence-donald-trump-229147
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/28/politics/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-quotes/ "
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Blog posting Feb, 14, 2017
"General Michael Flynn's departure from the White House may have much deeper roots than just his lie to both Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence about conversations with the Russian ambassador. The conflict between the two goes back to the days of the campaign post GOP conventions. I noted that in a column at that time. In the Vice Presidential debate, Pence parted ways on Russia from candidate Donald Trump's line.
From my blog posting 10/5/16: (repeated above)
and continues:
"Some background:
For some time, the question has been why has Donald Trump been so cozy with Russia? There has been a great deal of speculation ranging from Trump's debts to Russia oligarchs to blackmail , the connection with the Russian Alfa Bank, with embarrassing pictures (a victim of a honey trap). Fingers have been pointed to influencing Trump's views of Russia was his campaign manager, who departed the campaign mid year, Paul Manafort, who was an advisor to the ousted president of the Ukraine who sought refuge in Moscow after a coup. Congressional investigations into Russian influence and hacking in the US elections are just getting underway. Ukraine is involved. The Russians have conducted a stealth takeover of the eastern parts of that country and the West punished Russia with economic sanctions. The Flynn issue involves lies about his pre- January conversations with the Russian ambassador over lifting those sanctions. The question arises was this a thank you for the role Russia played in helping Trump win by planting false news stories and by hacking and revealing damaging information regarding Hillary Clinton.
That there are many concerned about why Donald Trump only ever has kind words for Russia and their president Vladimir Putin, while being critical of even our closest allies and even calling NATO, our mutual defense treaty with Europe, obsolete. It has set our Eastern Europe members of NATO on edge and one of President Obama's departing actions was to announce the placement of US troops in Poland as a signal to Russia not to mess with our Baltic members. Trump and others, including libertarians, had already expressed concern about going to war to support the small trio of Baltic nations in spite of their NATO membership. Russians have always seen the Baltics, with their ports to the sea, as part of theirs since there is a large number of Russians living in those areas left over from the old Soviet military occupations days when the Baltics were their satellites. Russia has a modus operandi of using "saving discrimination against Russian minorities" as an excuse to grab territory and the Baltics are ripe targets. Their membership in NATO has made Russia think twice. Ukraine, Crimea, and Georgia, recent targets of Russian grabs, are not part of NATO and are not under NATO's protections. Flynn was Donald Trump's closest campaign advisor on foreign affairs through out the campaign."
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