Trump selects Flynn as national security adviser

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced on Nov. 17 that he has selected former Defense Intelligence Agency director Michael Flynn as his national security adviser, the Reuters news agency reported. Flynn built a reputation for criticizing the foreign policy and military strategy of the Obama administration, in which he stressed the need for more aggressive measures to confront the Islamic State and seek military cooperation from Russia.

Flynn drew sharp criticism for attending a banquet held in 2015 in Moscow to honor the 10-year anniversary of the Russia Today television network, for which he has given analytical commentary. He sat next to Russian President Putin at the banquet. Flynn has called for combining American and Russian national security strategies to confront mutual challenges.

Zenon Zawada: Flynn was among the most outspoken supporters of the Trump candidacy so it comes as no surprise that he was selected for such a critical post. He is among the Putin sympathizers in the Trump entourage, along with investment banker Carter Page. It’s possible he could lead the effort to find compromise over Crimea, which could eventually involve loosening or dropping of related sanctions.

Reports also surfaced yesterday that Trump will meet with Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican Party candidate for the U.S. presidency, this weekend with a possible proposal to become U.S. Secretary of State. Romney built a reputation as the leading skeptic of Russian President Putin in U.S. politics, referring to Russia as the top geopolitical threat to the U.S. in 2012, even before the invasion of Ukraine. Romney isn’t the only anti-Russia hawk to be speculated as the next Secretary of State.

What this indicates is that while Trump will undoubtedly attempt to improve relations with Russia in his first year as president, he isn’t giving Putin the benefit of the doubt and will have Russia skeptics in his foreign policy team. This is good news for Ukraine as it indicates not only strong prospects for freezing the conflict in Donbas, but also a U.S. foreign policy of building up Ukraine as a deterrent to Russian aggression.