US President Donald Trump is making a serious mistake by leaning toward the idea of resetting relations with Russia, warns John Herbst, the 5th US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine and director of the Eurasian Center at the Atlantic Council.
Points of attention
- Trump is “flirting” with Russia and Putin and does not think about the consequences for the United States.
- There is currently no final decision in Washington, but the situation is worsening.
Trump chose the wrong path
John Herbst draws attention to the fact that Russia's national security doctrine directly names the United States as its main adversary.
In general, Putin's team has never hidden this, but for Trump, even this is not an argument.
At the same time, there is a sense of naivety among the presidential advisers. One of them, as you mentioned, for some reason believes that it is possible to reset relations with Russia. This was a failed idea of the Obama administration. This group, surrounded by Trump, ridicules Obama for being soft, criticizes Biden, but at the same time repeats the same mistake — flirts with the idea of a reset, "Herbst emphasized.
In his opinion, it didn't work then and it won't work now.
Herbst also warned that Trump's approach, aimed at resetting relations with Russia, could be very damaging to US interests and his own reputation.
The situation is still evolving. There is no final decision in Washington yet, but this option is undoubtedly under consideration, the ex-ambassador added.
