Trump Remains ‘a Real Gift’ for Russia, Moscow Blogger Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, August 30 – Many in Russia are unhappy that Donald Trump has not delivered in the ways they expected, a Moscow blogger says; but they forget that he remains “a real gift” to Russia in what he has given it “at a minimum four quiet years in which there will not be any external interference” by the US in Russia’s  internal affairs.

            That is far more valuable, the blogger who uses the screen name “Manzal” argues, than any losses Moscow may have suffered from the anti-Russian sanctions which Trump opposes but could not block or his occasional criticism of Russian policies or expressions of support for NATO (manzal.livejournal.com/610948.html).

            Had Hillary Clinton won the US presidency last year, he continues, Russia would have undoubtedly faced interference in the form of American efforts to promote a color revolution of some kind in Russia. But with Trump, Manzal suggests, there is no danger of that at least for the next four years – and that gives Moscow time it needs.

            Evidence of this is overwhelming, he says. On the one hand, Trump has cut the financing of all agencies like USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy which had promoted such things in the past. Without money, they will not be in a position to cause trouble for Russia in the future.

            And on the other, Trump has exacerbated problems within the US to the point that American elites have been forced to turn inward even though they don’t want to and to focus on conflicts racial, economic and otherwise. That will keep them busy and keep them from doing anything in Russia.