Originally appeared at ZeroHedge
“Russian patience is coming to an end,” Andrey Kortunov, head of the Kremlin-funded International Affairs Council, told Bloomberg in a rare assessment that actually attempts to gauge Russian interests two years into a downward spiraling relationship with the Trump administration, as opposed to the more common mainstream analysis that begins with Russiagate and ends with trying to square Trump’s anti-Russian policies according to some 4-D chess decision-making fantasy scenario.
Trump and Putin briefly cross paths in Buenos Aires. Getty Images
Kortunov continued, “This is a signal for us that it’s difficult to deal with this person, that he’s unreliable and unsuitable as a partner.”
After interviewing multiple high level unnamed Kremlin insiders, Bloomberg concluded that Russian frustration has reached a breaking point. The report noted that “Donald Trump may have stood up Vladimir Putin once too often” after snubbing Putin twice in less than a month.
First came canceled talks in Paris on Nov. 11 during the weekend centennial anniversary of Armistice Day events, but the bigger shock was G-20 in Argentina, per Bloomberg:
Feted by Russian lawmakers with applause and champagne after his election in 2016, Trump’s mercurial decision-making is increasingly seen as a liability in Moscow. Russian officials were taken aback when Trump tweeted that he was canceling talks with Putin at the Group of 20 summit in Argentina hours before they were due to meet last week, a decision one of them called really bad. Since then, Russian frustration has steadily grown, according to four senior officials, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.
So much for MSNBC-style conspiracizing over Kremlin-White House back channel puppet-mastery… but we don’t expect such vapid commentary to let up anytime soon regardless.
What does it mean for the two superpowers finding it hard or impossible to sit down at the same table? Here’s the scorecard representing increasingly dangerous trends which certainly don’t bode well for global stability and peace that’s about much more than two leaders at odds as geopolitical tensions build, according to Bloomberg’s findings.
New arms race As Putin warns of a new arms race over Trump’s threat to abandon a landmark nuclear treaty, the Kremlin’s left itself with little alternative than to dig in for confrontation over U.S. demands.
Sanctions: [Russia] may also retaliate against possible future U.S. sanctions after Putin held back from taking measures in response to earlier rounds of penalties… Tensions may spike further in coming months if the U.S. decides to impose fresh sanctions over alleged Russian election meddling.
Ukraine, Syria, Iran: Russia takes a harder line in talks with the U.S. on thorny issues including arms control, the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria and the Iranian nuclear accord.
Black Sea military tensions: UN Ambassador Nikki Haley called the attack on Ukrainian ships a “reckless” and “outlaw” action at an emergency Security Council meeting. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo called it a “dangerous escalation and a violation of international law.”
European security threatened: On the military front, Russia is already threatening to target European states if they host U.S. missiles after Trump withdraws from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. “Don’t try to talk to Russia from a position of force,” said Klintsevich, the lawmaker. “You’ll end up with such a headache you won’t know what’s hit you.”
Doors closing on diplomacy: While Russian officials previously expressed “understanding” of Trump’s political difficulties amid U.S. investigations into meddling, this time, they openly cast doubt on him. The president blamed Russia’s naval clash with Ukraine near Crimea for the cancellation. His decision was announced hours after his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about plans for a Trump real-estate investment in Moscow.
After the recent Trump snubs Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the idea of Putin visiting Washington — as was offered during the two leaders’ prior Helsinki summit — is now “out of the question.” This means there’s likely no chance of a meeting before the next G-20 summit in Japan in June, if even then.
Stephen F. Cohen: Mueller Probe Hysteria Endangers National Security By Preventing Trump From Talking With Russia https://t.co/ANv5o6zhmU
— RCP Video (@rcpvideo) December 4, 2018
A key theme among officials and Russian think-tankers interviewed was the perception that Russia is constantly being told to “give something” to improve relations with Washington, but in return is only suffering a humiliating cold shoulder in the process.
Optimism across Russia — from domestic media to government officials — is waning…
Senior members of the ruling United Russia party even regretted Trump’s victory, though Putin has dismissed the notion that a presidency of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton would have averted the current frictions.
“It’s far worse than it would have been under Clinton,” said Frants Klintsevich, a senator who sits on United Russia’s governing council. “She’s an experienced politician and any of her actions would have been based on logic and some kind of discussion. Here we’re seeing huge swings in one direction and another.” — Bloomberg
Vladimir Lukin, a former Russian ambassador to the U.S. and current Russian parliamentarian summed up the perception from Moscow well when he told Bloomberg: “We can do ‘give and take’ but not ‘give and give’.”
Bloomberg !!!.
Exactly! You have to look beyond corporate/CIA media. Russia is doing exactly as it should. Defending itself and standing still…….watching the US boil itself to dissolution. When I heard that Putin practiced Judo that was all I needed to know.
“It’s far worse than it would have been under Clinton,” said Frants Klintsevich, a senator who sits on United Russia’s governing council. “She’s an experienced politician and any of her actions would have been based on logic and some kind of discussion……”
What a joke. How can an unhinged person as her make rational decisions and not bring nuclear war much closer to reality. At least with Trump we have seen how he tried to steer the country in a rational direction, but was obviously leaned on to do what he was told or else. You can’t hope for much better unfortunately with the scum that is running things in the US.
As for that idiot Russian Senator, what he said was beyond negligence, he knows full well what she is capable of, and perhaps underneath it all he is looking for a confrontation so he has a potential opportunity to retaliate towards the US, at the expense of the innocent people of Russia. He has a responsibility to all in Russia to put personal grievances aside for the sake of improving chances of survival, even if that means a protracted Cold War battle to reduce the effectiveness of US strikes.
Perhaps this is at least part of the reason for Putin’s decision to be a Presidential candidate independent from the United Russia party.
exactly… although he had some valid points in his opinion, in-formation he press is actually undermining Trump and further make division between Russia and USA – and that is something deep state is doing all along… An the remark about the Hillary – he is clearly either stupid or pindos (on the deep state payroll)..
K;intsevich indeed is a “pindos” – he’s a fake “patriot”.
Thing is, we will never know. She sounded crazy during the elections, but election rethoric is always crazy. Things are usually never that crazy once the election dust settles. And the whole Russiagate has served to whip up an anti-Russian frenzy in Congress that would otherwise never have been. And while it pains me to admit it, chances are she would have probably been a lot more rational and predictable in her foreign policy, even if it was hardline, then Trump is. You just don’t know what he will do. Only thing we do know is that its not going much America First and that there is zero chance now of an easing of the relationship between the two countries. It’s like he wants to out-crazy Clinton now in his anti-Russian politics, if only to not give the Russiagaters any more ammunition.
Dont think so… Trump have to maneuver under constant deep state pressure.. Imagine what the crazy neocons would do if they have their obedient puppet as a president… WW3 already..
I don’t believe they want WW3. I do think they want confrontation and brinkmanship as they think that will get them what they want. That Putin will back down when confronted with American military might. Cause America is the world’s biggest power, right? And doesn’t Trump have Bolton as his foreign policy advisor? The craziest stupidest chickenhawk neocon that is out there?
Like I said, without Russiagate Congress would not be so whipped up in an anti-Russian frenzy. It’s basically served to turn half the US electorate into an anti-Russian state of mind who otherwise would not have given a flying fuck about Russia. This in no small part helps the neocons to push through their agenda in Washington maybe even more then if Hillary had won. Who I still think is the evil wicked witch of the West and if she were to die tomorrow I would do a happy dance indeed that the world is less one evil person. But you can work with predictable evil. It’s chaos that’s far harder to predict. And this is probably what the Russians are thinking right now.
i dint say they want WW3.. But they would push world to ww3 because of their own stupidity! Make no mistake – neocons know only one path to the world supremacy – destroying everyone in their path! And Russians would not make suicide in order to prevent ww3 – they never did and never will..
could it be things would be exactly the same, afterall they take orders from the same people
True, to an extent. They are both bought, true. They are both advancing the ‘deep state’, true. They are both Israel cheer-leaders. So where is the difference? They work for different gangs. They both curry Israeli favor, which is to say they support the ‘deep state'(a great catchy name). Hillary works for the Zionist bankster mafia run cabal, Trump the Kazarian mafia. They both have the same aim, just different benefactors. Just another gang turf war. Generally, I think you’re absolutely right.
Trump had a good platform but too weak of a leader. Just a reality show host. We need a Caesar, a Peter the Great, and a Robbes Pierre.
I don’t think he has a choice, and since he is a capitalist pig he is only looking out for his own financial interests so he stays rich and isn’t made an example of. Similar to the role of Ambassador to the UN where they replace people, only to have the same rhetoric and agenda.
There is no room for diplomacy and respect of one another when they engaged in deceit and betrayal aimed at leading the other side astray for a soon to be gained advantage. Nevertheless, Russia is fully aware of what’s going on and is playing this game to it’s maximum benefit as well, so it’s ridiculous for either side to claim they were ‘fooled’ or ‘disappointed’, but understandable given this is broadcast to the masses with a limited memory and knowledge of the facts.
Klintsevich is a traitor rat from Eltsins “elites” – his speciality is dressing up as patriot while in reality his a US bitch. As I said many times – 70-80% of Russian “elites” are still the same from Eltsin’s times – 5th column. They were put in power under US supervision during 90-s. Surely he advocates Klinton as she represents same powers that he’s working for. Removing this scum from power in Russia and doing it without major revolutions and bloodshed is a lengthy process. Rogozin is another example of fake patriot and there are many more.
That makes sense. But why Rogozin as well? I thought he was well trusted since he was given the task of supervising Roscomos.
That’s a long story James. Things are fairly complicated and yet simple at the same time. One should judge by actual deeds not just public speaches (which are also important). What is complicated is why such people as Rogozing and majority of our government are still there and why Putin is still not able to “drain the swamp” (sounds familiar?). In fact it is not complicated but requires more time to explain than I have atm. I will try to get back to it later.
Let us not forget, it never mattered who ended up as POTUS. The Deep State want a Big war, it looked like Trump would not provide it. However, he has been nobbled. Clinton being an insider knew what the Deep State wanted and was prepared to give it to them with all the buttons and bombs and a lot sooner. At the moment the Deep state’s Big war is probably running behind schedule. That has to be a bonus for Russia and the rest of the world who do not want any part of this Yanki madness
i dunno, trump’s act like he is not part of the deep state is a bit much. The first thing he did was surround himself with neocon scum in his cabinet. I mean what has he even attempted re peace with other countries like he campaigned on. N Korea looks to be a pr event. It was all an act and he’s not a very good bit actor.
N Korea act was pulled up to ease tensions with Russia in Syria and avoid further escalation with possible WW3…
I think there are going to be a lot more people coming to this conclusion. This has been my position from the git-go. He is a conman, he is doing his job well. He is not a patriot, he has been ‘mob’ owned from the start. He has no real wealth, it’s all on paper…he only ran because he was paid to. What he is, is gutless…and Israels best friend. ANY peace initiative that he starts will be terminated at birth. Look at the NK BS, perfect example.
I’m not sure that Clinton would have been much different. Much of the fear mongering that Trump ran on as to what would happen if Clinton got in office are things that he turned around and did himself. Such as bombing Syria and continuing and in some cases like Afghanistan and Yemen escalating current wars.
As far as a big war goes. The US is to indebted to start a big war. What they want to do is bleed Russia with multiple conflicts the way that the US is being bleed. And the Russians to their credit aren’t buying. They’ve been frugal and efficient with their military efforts spending somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 cents on the dollar of what their Jew world order opposition have. Syria is just 1 example. Russia is spending $1 Billion a year in Syria according to published reports. The US alone, not counting the rest of NATO and the gulf states, has spent approximately $20 billion. The rest of the Syrian regime change contingent has probably spent a similar amount. That’s somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 to $4 billion for Russia compared to $40 billion for the Jew world order. What Iran has spent is unknown, but it’s nowhere near what the regime change miscreants have spent.
Russia must give more. If Russia is tired of giving and giving, they should continue to give, until they are NOT tired. Thats the way to understand America and the way to peace because we dont back!!
tommy tommy tommy, once again you dont make any sense….
LOL, Tommy Jensen for next POTUS. The Empire would sink faster.
Bloombergs article is just another example of MSM “ournalism” – Kortumov is simply nobody, a politologist and his so called International affairs counsil has nothing to do with Kremlin, yet Bloomberg is trying to porteay him as someone relevant. The other “high ranked officials” are nameless :)
‘Nameless’and shameless I think Tudor.
The US establishment has no honour and and arguably, never has had any and neo-liberal Russian agitators are no better I think .
To me what I call “ruzionic elites” are among worst scum on this planet.
Its the same in every country I think Tudor and the BREXIT betrayal by the British establishment ( deep state) after the most democratic vote the UK has had for generations is a sordid example of this.
Why is Medvedev still hanging around in Moscow – his abstaining from UN vote green lighted the NATO assault on Libya – and set scene for subsequent NATO assault on Syria – initially with same Qatari purchased weapons and many Libyan militants/mercenaries freighted through Turkey.
Medvedev is an honest man, he believed that a no fly zone would stop the bombing. He simply didn’t understand how despicable the Americans really are, and that they would use the no fly zone to bomb Libya back to the stone age. I think he has learned, that you can never ever trust America.
While Bloomberg (and Zerohedge) are disinfo and propaganda outlets, I think that the general assumption of Russians becoming tired of Trumps BS is likely. While I do not claim to know anything about those quoted in the article, generally these ragsheets include at least a kernel of truth (corrupted or not), just to get one to read their tripe. Generally, I think the ‘glow’ is gone from the Putin/Trump honeymoon. I recall someone (Lavrov?) somewhere saying that it doesn’t matter who is president, they all do the same thing. I doubt the Russians are too surprised to see these developments. I’m not.
About time these naive Ruskies grew up and started dealing with reality and not fantasy. They shouldn’t be even answering the phones above mid-range level. Never seen anyone with any self respect kiss so much @$$.
You may like to ask your parents for this Christmas present Floyd. It compliments your ‘reality’.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/B6YAAOSw6yJa2ohY/s-l1600.jpg
Putin is losing patience. What is he going to do, interfere on behalf of the Democratic nominee this time? Can he convince Julian Assange to support his goals again? It is Putin that chose to invade Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. It was Putin that decided to illegally annex part of a sovereign country. It was Putin that annulled the 2003 Kersh Strait agreement with Ukraine – and then claim Ukraine boats were in Russian territorial waters. It was Putin that fired on retreating Ukraine boats in international waters. It was Putin that raised tensions with Ukraine with his reckless attack on the Ukrainian boats.
Brainwashed and brainless moron.
Thanks for your well thought out response!
your wellcome
A lot of dumb comments here…Trump is proving to be a lot of hot air and nothing more…let’s put aside the Russia issue for a moment and look at Syria…Trump said a few months ago that he’s taking the US out of Syria…and then does a U turn…suddenly a neocon named James Jeffrey appears out of nowhere as the chief of Syria policy…what does this crap tell you…it means that Trump has no balls…he is a powerless clown that is playing the role of ‘president’ on TV…that’s it…
The office of president has a lot of power, but you have to know how to use it…Trump has proved to be no match for the so-called deep state…he is not very intelligent and has been sidelined as far as actually having any input into major decisions…he is a like a leaf carried along by the current…a total waste of time…
“This is a signal for us that it’s difficult to deal with this person, that he’s unreliable and unsuitable as a partner.” Hmmm, and Obama administration was “dogovorenostna”?
Obama might have been deceptive and difficult, but Trump is stark raving mad.
Yeah I was clumsy. With John Kerry downspiraling in small circles and getting bigger with todays.
My perspective on Trump and the dichotomy of his statements and actions is that what he ran on and sometimes says that he wants to do, such as better relations with Russia and getting out of Syria. As compared to what he actually does. In terms of worsening relations with Russia and staying in Syria. Is that the greater emphasis has to be placed on his actions, not his words.
He is clearly implementing policies of people who created these and other problems, most of whom are Jews and their collaborators, before Trump even got in office. Whether he’s doing it willingly or as a result of coercion as a puppet doesn’t make much difference.
Trump has turned into one more Jew world order mouth piece and implementer. And until he demonstrates the ability to actually implement the policies that he ran on and sometimes says that he wants to implement. He has to be treated as a Jew collaborator detrimental to the interests of the US and humanity.
There is a risk that Trump might destroy the world, but it’s a certainty that he is going to destroy the USA. The lunatic ravings are bad, but snatching that Huawei executive and holding her as a hostage, will scare off every business person in the world.