Tillerson faces biggest challenge yet in upcoming meeting with Russian counterpart

Gingrich on the foreign policy challenges facing Trump

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not meet with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson when the former Exxon Mobil CEO visits Moscow on Wednesday, a move that could signal tensions between Washington and the Kremlin.
The Kremlin’s decision to avoid the meeting is notable. In 2013, Putin personally awarded Tillerson  the Order of Friendship- which is a top state award in the country, Reuters reported.
A Russian spokesman did not indicate why the two will not meet.
Tillerson is emerging from the shadows with a leading public role in shaping and explaining the Trump administration’s missile strikes in Syria. And, he’s set for an even higher-profile mission, heading to Moscow under the twin clouds of Russia’s U.S. election meddling and its possible support for a Syrian chemical weapons attack.
SUSAN RICE'S CLAIM ON SYRIA GETS FOUR PINOCCHIOS
Tillerson was visible during last week’s announcement of the response to the gruesome chemical attack, fielding questions from reporters on and off camera, and then captured in an official White House photo seated next to President Trump as they heard the result of the 59 cruise missiles that struck a Syrian military base.
Tillerson was a prominent fixture during the most important foreign policy period in Trump’s young presidency: a two-day summit with Chinese President Xi that coincided with the strikes against Syria. He was by Trump’s side during his meetings with Xi and spoke publicly multiple times to address both issues.
It was Tillerson who delivered the Trump administration’s first blistering condemnation of Russia in the hours after the strikes. Standing in a cramped conference room alongside national security adviser H.R. McMaster, Tillerson said Moscow had “failed” to live up to its obligations under a 2013 agreement to strip Syria of its chemical weapons stockpiles. “Either Russia has been complicit or Russia has simply been incompetent in its ability to deliver on its end of that agreement,” he said.
On Sunday, he made his first network television interview appearances. In one interview, Tillerson said he sees no reason for retaliation from Russia for the U.S. missile strikes. Russia maintains a close political and military alliance with President Bashar Assad’s government and has been accused of supporting its attacks against Syrians opposed to Assad’s rule — something Moscow adamantly denies.
Tillerson said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that Russians were not targeted by the strikes. He also said the top U.S. priority in the region hadn’t changed and remained the defeat of Islamic State militants.
Then he headed to Europe to gather with the foreign ministers of the other major industrialized nations before venturing on eastward to become the first Trump Cabinet member to visit Moscow — and possibly meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The criticism from the foreign policy establishment’s left and right that has dogged Tillerson’s tenure is dying down.
Tillerson had faced questions about whether he understood that his new position meant he was now the face of the United States to the world, that he had to answer no longer to a small group of top shareholders but to more than 320 million Americans.
The secretary of state must be “the spokesman for American foreign policy,” said Eliot Cohen, a senior State Department official during George W. Bush’s presidency. “This is the administration’s first crisis but it won’t be their last by a long shot, so he’s going to have to get used to this.”
Joining Trump at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, Tillerson was supposed to focus on the informal summit with Xi. Instead, he was thrust to the forefront after photos of the bodies piled in heaps in Idlib, Syria, dramatically altered the agenda.
Only a week earlier, Tillerson had alarmed U.S. allies by indicating the U.S. was no longer interested in pushing for Assad’s removal from power.
In the hours leading up to Trump’s decision to order the strikes, Tillerson was among the most forward-leaning of Trump’s top aides in suggesting the U.S. would deliver an “appropriate response.” He challenged Russia publicly in a way Trump appeared scrupulously to avoid and said of Assad early Thursday: “It would seem that there would be no role for him to govern the Syrian people.”
After the cruise missiles crashed down in Syria, Tillerson was calm and commanding in a question-and-answer session with journalists.
Cohen, a conservative critic of Trump’s foreign policy who has chided Tillerson for his reticence, said he saw Tillerson growing into the job. “I suspect you’ll see more of him as he grows more comfortable in dealing with the press and in his relationship with the president and the administration’s national security team,” Cohen said.
Beyond Syria are disputes over Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
At the same time, Tillerson carries to Moscow the weight of FBI and congressional investigations into Russia’s interference in last year’s presidential election. The Trump campaign’s possible ties to the presumed Russian meddlers are also under scrutiny.
“This is going to be Tillerson’s biggest test to date,” said Julianne Smith, a National Security Council and Defense Department official under President Obama.

North Korea vows 'catastrophic consequences' for US aircraft carrier dispatch

North Korea is vowing tough counteraction to any military moves that might follow the U.S. move to send the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its battle group to waters off the Korean Peninsula.
The statement from Pyongyang comes as tensions on the divided peninsula are high because of U.S.-South Korea wargames now underway and recent ballistic missile launches by the North. Pyongyang sees the annual maneuvers as a dress rehearsal for invasion, while the North's missile launches violate U.N. resolutions.
"We will hold the U.S. wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions," a spokesman for its Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying by the state-run Korean Central News Agency late Monday.
The statement comes just after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said U.S. missile strikes against a Syrian air base in retaliation for a chemical weapon attack carry a message for any nation operating outside of international norms.
He didn't specify North Korea, but the context was clear enough.
"If you violate international agreements, if you fail to live up to commitments, if you become a threat to others, at some point a response is likely to be undertaken," Tillerson told ABC's "This Week."
Gordon Chang, a Daily Beast columnist and author of “Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes On The World,” said in an emailed statement to Fox News Friday that the U.S. strike on the Syrian airfield “tells North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un that he must now heed American military power, something that he probably dismissed before.”
“Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, disappeared from public view for about six weeks in 2003 at the time of the Iraq war. Kim Jong-Un loves the public spotlight, and it will be telling if he similarly goes into hiding,” the author said.
The airstrikes are “a warning to China’s People’s Liberation Army, which had grown dismissive of the U.S. Navy and Air Force.  Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader visiting Mar-a-Lago, almost certainly interpreted the strike as a sign of disrespect to him,” Chang said.
The North has long claimed the U.S. is preparing some kind of assault against it and justifies its nuclear weapons as defensive in nature.
"This goes to prove that the U.S. reckless moves for invading the DPRK have reached a serious phase of its scenario," the North's statement said. "If the U.S. dares opt for a military action, crying out for 'preemptive attack' and 'removal of the headquarters,' the DPRK is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the U.S."
North Korea's formal name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
U.S. Navy ships are a common presence in the Korean region and are in part a show of force. On Saturday night, the Pentagon said a Navy carrier strike group was moving toward the western Pacific Ocean to provide more of a physical presence in the region.
President Donald Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, described the decision to send the carrier group as "prudent."

Tax Reform Cartoons

Russian compound in Nicaragua reportedly intrigues US officials

A new Russian compound in Nicaragua has reportedly intrigued U.S. officials who are skeptical of its intended use.
The outpost is located on the rim of a volcano and has a clear view of the U.S. Embassy in Managua, The Washington Post reported Sunday. The compound is littered with antennas and globe-shaped devices.
“I have no idea,” one woman who works at a telecom agency in Nicaragua said. “They are Russian, and they speak Russian, and they carry around Russian apparatuses.”
Current and former U.S. officials have expressed concerns that the Russian buildings could be used to spy on Americans and gather intelligence, while others see it as a countermove to the U.S. presence in Eastern Europe. Nicaragua has downplayed the concerns, telling the Post it is a tracking site of Russia’s GPS system.
“The United States and countries of the region should be concerned,” Juan Gonzalez, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, told the paper. “Nicaragua offers a beachhead for Russia to expand its intel capabilities and election meddling close to the United States.”
U.S. officials told the newspaper that there is no immediate alarm concerning the compound, but there are moves being made just in case. A State Department staffer at its Russian desk was named a desk officer in charge of Nicaragua, while diplomats with Russian expertise have gone to Nicaragua as well.
Russia’s influence in Latin America has increased over the last two years. Russia has sold military weapons and artillery to Venezuela, Peru, Argentina and Ecuador, while strengthening economic relations with Mexico and Brazil, the Post noted.
Security experts believe that Russia has nearly 250 military personnel in Nicaragua. Russia has been allowed to use Nicaraguan ports for its warships and Moscow gave 50 tanks to the country.

Trump Pushing Hard on Tax Cuts, Deregulation: Chief Economic Advisor Gary Cohn

President Trump has gone back to the drawing board on is tax reform as he looks for wide-ranging Republican support behind legislation to overhaul the tax system.
White House officials have said that it is unlikely a tax overhaul will meet the August deadline set by Treasury Secretary Mnuchin. The White House is trying to learn from the failure of enacting a new health care law to replace ObamaCare and take a more active role in getting legislation passed.
White House aides told the Associated Press Monday that the goal is to cut tax rates sharply enough to improve the economic picture in rural and industrial areas of the U.S. However, the administration so far has swatted down alternative ways for raising revenues, such as a carbon tax, to offset lower rates.
Trump has not said which trade-offs he might accept and had remained noncommittal on the leading blueprint for reform from Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Tex., the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
Brady has proposed a border adjustment system, which would eliminate corporate deductions on imports, to raise $1 trillion over 10 years that could fund lower corporate tax rates.
But that possibility has rankled retailers who say it would lead to higher prices and threaten millions of jobs, while some lawmakers have worried that the system would violate World Trade Organization rules.
Brady has said he intends to amend the blueprint but has not spelled out how he would do so.
Another option being floated around on Capitol Hill would change the House GOP plan to eliminate much of the payroll tax and cut corporate tax rates and possibly requiring a new dedicated funding source for Social Security.
The change, proposed by a GOP lobbyist with close ties to the Trump administration, would transform Brady's plan on imports into something closer to a value-added tax by also eliminating the deduction of labor expenses. This would bring it in line with WTO rules and generate an additional $12 trillion over 10 years, according to budget estimates. Those additional revenues could then enable the end of the 12.4 percent payroll tax, split evenly between employers and employees, that funds Social Security, while keeping the health insurance payroll tax in place.
This approach would give a worker earning $60,000 a year an additional $3,720 in take-home pay, a possible win that lawmakers could highlight back in their districts even though it would involve changing the funding mechanism for Social Security, according to the lobbyist.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said that all of the trial balloons surfacing in public don't represent the work that's being done behind the scenes.
"It's not really what's going on," Portman said. "What's going on is they're working with on various ideas."
The White House has not officially commented on any plan, but said in a statement but said a value-added tax based on consumption is not under consideration "as of now.”

Trump administration back to square one on tax reform

President Trump has gone back to the drawing board on is tax reform as he looks for wide-ranging Republican support behind legislation to overhaul the tax system.
White House officials have said that it is unlikely a tax overhaul will meet the August deadline set by Treasury Secretary Mnuchin. The White House is trying to learn from the failure of enacting a new health care law to replace ObamaCare and take a more active role in getting legislation passed.
White House aides told the Associated Press Monday that the goal is to cut tax rates sharply enough to improve the economic picture in rural and industrial areas of the U.S. However, the administration so far has swatted down alternative ways for raising revenues, such as a carbon tax, to offset lower rates.
Trump has not said which trade-offs he might accept and had remained noncommittal on the leading blueprint for reform from Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Tex., the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
Brady has proposed a border adjustment system, which would eliminate corporate deductions on imports, to raise $1 trillion over 10 years that could fund lower corporate tax rates.
But that possibility has rankled retailers who say it would lead to higher prices and threaten millions of jobs, while some lawmakers have worried that the system would violate World Trade Organization rules.
Brady has said he intends to amend the blueprint but has not spelled out how he would do so.
Another option being floated around on Capitol Hill would change the House GOP plan to eliminate much of the payroll tax and cut corporate tax rates and possibly requiring a new dedicated funding source for Social Security.
The change, proposed by a GOP lobbyist with close ties to the Trump administration, would transform Brady's plan on imports into something closer to a value-added tax by also eliminating the deduction of labor expenses. This would bring it in line with WTO rules and generate an additional $12 trillion over 10 years, according to budget estimates. Those additional revenues could then enable the end of the 12.4 percent payroll tax, split evenly between employers and employees, that funds Social Security, while keeping the health insurance payroll tax in place.
This approach would give a worker earning $60,000 a year an additional $3,720 in take-home pay, a possible win that lawmakers could highlight back in their districts even though it would involve changing the funding mechanism for Social Security, according to the lobbyist.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said that all of the trial balloons surfacing in public don't represent the work that's being done behind the scenes.
"It's not really what's going on," Portman said. "What's going on is they're working with on various ideas."
The White House has not officially commented on any plan, but said in a statement but said a value-added tax based on consumption is not under consideration "as of now.”

Tillerson, G7 ministers look to pressure Russia to reconsider Assad support

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, along with six other Group of Seven foreign ministers, aim to send Russia a “clear and coordinated message” in the wake of the U.S.’ response to a gas attack that left scores dead.
Tillerson, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and the other ministers aim to pressure Russia to end its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after a tumultuous week, which included the nerve gas attack and the U.S.’ airstrikes on a Syrian air base.
The U.S. received broad support from Europe after the airstrikes. Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano, who is hosting the meeting, said the missile strike contributed to a “renewed harmony” between the U.S. and its partners ahead of the first meeting of G-7 foreign ministers since President Trump took office.
"'We need to remember that not 10 years ago, but 100 or 120 days ago, the concern in Europe was that the United States and the EU were moving apart," Alfano told Sky TG24 Sunday. "I welcome this renewed harmony."
With ties between the U.S. and Europe seemingly getting better, there has been no indication Russia and President Vladimir Putin was going to move from their position on the Assad regime in Syria.
Russia and Iran said in a joint statement Sunday that the countries would “respond to any aggression” in wake of the airstrikes in Syria.
“What America waged in an aggression on Syria is a crossing of red lines,” the countries said, The Sun reported. “From now on we will respond with force to any aggressor or any breach of red lines from whoever it is and America knows our ability to respond well.”
President Trump’s national security adviser H.R. McMaster said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday” that Russia should re-evaluate its support for Assad. He added that Russia will have to decide whether it wanted to continue backing a “murderous regime” as Trump weighed the next steps against Syria.
Tillerson is expected to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after the G-7 meeting.

Russian Putin Syria Cartoons

Thanks for nothing Obama.

Haley forces Bolivia to defend Assad 'atrocities' in 'public view' at UN session

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley forced Bolivia to "defend the atrocities of the Syrian regime" in "full public view" on Friday, after the country's ambassador requested a closed session to discuss President Trump's strikes in Syria.
Trump ordered the missile strikes in response to a chemical weapons attack by Syrian President Bashar Assad Tuesday which killed dozens in northern Syria.
Haley revealed the Bolivian ambassador's request for a private emergency session of the U.N. Security Council in a written statement Friday morning.
She countered: "The United States, as president of the Council this month, decided the session would be held in the open. Any country that chooses to defend the atrocities of the Syrian regime will have to do so in full public view, for all the world to hear.”
At the session, Haley stood by the U.S. actions, and said that when the international community fails to act, it is up to individual states to act themselves.
”The moral state of the Assad regime could no longer go unanswered. His crimes against humanity could no longer be met with empty words. It was time to say enough. But not only say it, it was time to act,” she said.
Haley also questioned Russia’s role in carrying out a deal to remove chemical weapons -- arguing that either Moscow knew about the weapons, was “incompetent” in removing them, or was played “for fools” by Assad. She went on to warn that more U.S. action could be on the table.
“The United States took a very measured step last night. We are prepared to do more. But we hope that will not be necessary,” she said.
The session itself was fiery.
Russian ambassador Vladimir Safronkov blasted the United States for trying to impose an “irresponsible geopolitical project” on the world, and warned of “extremely serious” consequences.
Meanwhile Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari  condemned what he called “a barbaric, flagrant of aggression” and a violation of the U.N. charter.
“This act makes America a partner of ISIL, Al-Nusra and other terrorist groups,” he said.
The visibly aggravated Bolivian ambassador -- Sacha Sergio Llorenty Soliz – used his time to tear into what he called an “extremely serious violation of international law”  and “an imperialistic action” by the United States.
“We believe it is the duty of the Security Council, of the United Nations organizations, to defend multilateralism … we are here to defend it,” he said.
He went on to brandish not only a copy of the U.N. Charter, but also a large photograph of former Secretary of State Colin Powell addressing the Security Council in 2003 about the alleged threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. Soliz went on to argue that there were no WMDs found in Iraq then, and that the council should therefore be skeptical of the United States now.
Soliz’s remarks were immediately met by stern criticism by U.K. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, who backed the U.S. action and claimed the Bolivian ambassador was “more outraged at the United States than the Assad regime.”
“The United Kingdom supports the U.S. airstrike … because war crimes have consequences,” he said, calling the strike “a proportionate response to unspeakable acts.”
Rycroft also mocked the Russians, saying Assad had “thumbed his nose” at Russia’s calls for Assad to engage in peace talks.
“Russia sits here today humiliated by its inability to bring to heel a puppet dictator,” he said.
Other members took more restrained approaches. Italian Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi called for the Security Council to redouble its efforts to seek a U.N.-led political transition from the Assad regime, while French Ambassador Francois Delattre said Assad’s crimes should not go unanswered, and renewed calls for the U.N. to take charges to the International Criminal Court – but noted that such efforts have been vetoed by Russia.
Delattre called the strikes by America a “legitimate” response and a sign that use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated, but warned that a solution will not be reached by military means alone.

Alabama governor will face impeachment hearings after state Supreme Court ruling

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled on Saturday to allow lawmakers to move ahead with an effort to oust Gov. Robert Bentley, who is fighting to stay in office amid fallout from an affair with a top aide.
Bentley will face impeachment hearings beginning on Monday.
The state Supreme Court reversed a short-lived victory for Bentley when a judge on Friday blocked impeachment proceedings. After the high court's ruling, the House Judiciary Committee quickly announced plans to proceed with hearings on Monday.
The 74-year-old Republican has been engulfed in a sex scandal since recordings surfaced in 2016 of him making suggestive remarks to a female aide before he and his wife of 50 years got divorced.
Bentley vowed to stay in office despite calls for his resignation. He stood on the state Capitol steps on Friday and acknowledged making personal mistakes but maintained he did nothing to merit his removal from office.
"I do not plan to resign. I have done nothing illegal,” Bentley said. “If the people want to know if I misused state resources, the answer is simply no. I have not.”
The Supreme Court justices asked for briefs on the matter to be filed by Monday.
"It's disappointing to hear the committee will plow forward while the Supreme Court is considering the case. We have no idea what the committee has planned for Monday or who its witnesses will be," Bentley's lawyer, Ross Garber said.
Special Counsel Jack Sharman said the committee's position was that it is free to proceed with the hearings.
"I want to thank the members of the Alabama Supreme Court for quickly acting on our appeal and recognizing, what a circuit court judge didn't understand, that there are three branches of government and the Alabama Legislature is free to conduct its business as prescribed in the state constitution," House Judiciary Chairman Mike Jones said in a statement.
The committee, following a week or so of hearings, will make a recommendation to the full House of Representatives on whether Bentley should be impeached.
The Alabama Ethics Commission on Wednesday found probable cause that Bentley broke ethics and campaign law and referred the matter for possible prosecution.
Sharman wrote that Bentley encouraged an "an atmosphere of intimidation" in his administration to keep his romantic relationship secret and sent two state law enforcement officers to try to track down and retrieve a recording of a sexually-charged phone call he made to a woman presumed to be Mason.
"Gov. Bentley directed law enforcement to advance his personal interests and, in a process characterized by increasing obsession and paranoia, subjected career law enforcement officers to tasks intended to protect his reputation," the report to the House Judiciary Committee which was publicly released on Friday said.
The governor's lawyer called the report an "amalgam of hearsay rumor and innuendo."