JRL NEWSWATCH: “Strobe Talbott: It’s Already Collusion; We don’t need news reports to tell us that Trump is giving Putin what he wants. Take it from this longtime Russia hand: It’s staring us in the face” – Politico/ Strobe Talbott

Strobe Talbott file photo, adapted from image at state.gov

“… We already know that that the Kremlin helped put Trump into the White House and played him for a sucker. Or put it this way: Trump has been colluding with a hostile Russia throughout his presidency. We’ll see if it started before that. … Strobe Talbott … distinguished fellow in the foreign policy program at the Brookings Institution … […]

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Putin’s ‘A Solid Man’: Declassified Memos Offer Window Into Yeltsin-Clinton Relationship

Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin

(Article ©2018 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Mike Eckel – WASHINGTON – August 30, 2018 – text with links and graphics: rferl.org/a/putin-s-a-solid-man-declassified-memos-offer-window-into-yeltsin-clinton-relationship/29462317.html) On September 8, 1999, just a few weeks after promoting the head of the country’s top intelligence agency to the post of prime minister, Russian President Boris Yeltsin took a phone call from a […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Bill and Boris: A Window Into a Most Important Post-Cold War Relationship” [Excerpt] – Texas National Security Review/James Goldgeier

File Photo of Boris Yeltsin, Bill Clinton Playing a Saxophone, Lloyd Bentsen and others, adapted from image at whitehouse.gov

[Full text: tnsr.org/2018/08/bill-and-boris-a-window-into-a-most-important-post-cold-war-relationship/] “Against the backdrop of an enormous power differential between their two countries, Clinton and Yeltsin established a close personal rapport. … to interact effectively even when … frank in their disagreements, the most serious of which were over NATO enlargement … and the Kosovo War …   As many were decrying the lack of any formal record […]

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NEWSLINK: “Summitgate and the Campaign vs. ‘Peace’; Not surprisingly, Trump’s meetings with NATO and Putin are being portrayed as ominous events by Russiagaters” – The Nation/Stephen F. Cohen

File Photo of Donald Trump Waving Before Large Crowd with Trump Signs, adapted from image at whitehouse.gov

“As Cohen pointed out in previous discussions, U.S.-Russian (Soviet and post-Soviet) summits are a long tradition going back to FDR’s wartime meeting with Stalin in Yalta in 1943. Every American president since FDR met with a Kremlin leader in a summit-style format at least once, several doing so multiple times. The purpose was always to resolve conflicts and enhance cooperation […]

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NEWSWATCH Fred Weir/facebook: “So, this is a ‘potential’ plot …” Re: Washington Post: “U.S. investigating potential covert Russian plan to disrupt November elections”

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

Fred Weir of the Christian Science Monitor comments on Russia and investigations into cyber incursions relating to the U.S. elections, while posting a link to an article from the Washington Post, “U.S. investigating potential covert Russian plan to disrupt November elections.” So, this is a ‘potential’ plot, even according to the headline, and the story requires the insertion — well […]

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NEWSWATCH The Hill: “Former Pentagon chief: US shares blame for poor relations with Russia.”

Stylized Russian and U.S. Flags with Number 200, 1807-2007

The Hill covers comments by former U.S. official William Perry on U.S.-Russian relations, recalling scenarios dating back to the 1990’s. ‘It’s as much our fault as it is the fault of the Russians, at least originally,’ said William Perry, who served as Defense secretary from 1994 to 1997. ‘And it began when I was secretary.’ Perry, who was speaking to […]

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Bill Clinton Offers Rare US Praise for Putin

File Photo of Vladimir Putin at Valdai Club 2013 Meeting, Adapted from Screenshot of Valdai Club Video at youtube.com

(RIA Novosti – WASHINGTON, September 25, 2013) ­ Former President Bill Clinton offered some rare words of praise Wednesday from a US politician about Vladimir Putin, describing the Russian president as “very smart,” “brutally blunt” and true to his word. “Mr. Putin … he’s very smart,” Clinton said in an interview with CNN talk show host Piers Morgan. “And, remarkably, […]

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