Anti-Putin hawks nominated by Trump gaining support

The U.S. government can’t trust the Russian government and needs to see positive steps before relaxing sanctions, said on Jan. 18 Nikki Haley, the U.S. governor who has been nominated by Donald Trump as the U.S. Ambassador to the UN. “Russia is trying to flex its muscles,” she told the U.S. Senate confirmation hearings, as reported by the Reuters news agency.

U.S. Senator John McCain, among the most vocal opponents of Russian President Putin, said he will support retired U.S. General James Mattis as defense secretary, the washingtontimes.com news site reported on Jan. 19.

Zenon Zawada: The scorecard is now three anti-Putin hawks in the Trump administration (Mattis, Coats, Haley) versus two Putin doves (Tillerson, Flynn). And even the alleged doves have demonstrated a clear understanding of what’s at stake with Russia and how they need to approach Putin. So the hysteria being created by Trump’s globalist opponents – including the notion that he will surrender Ukraine to Putin – doesn’t look justified. Although we can’t expect a peace deal to succeed, we expect a respectable effort will be attempted.