{UAH} Trump's Russia's fear factor : Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster: The Toughest Man on Russia?
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US national security advisor says West has "failed to impose sufficient costs" on Moscow for its aggressive behavior
BY ASHISH KUMAR SEN
"Russian aggression is strengthening our resolve and our confidence. We might all help Mr. Putin understand his grave error," US National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster said at the Atlantic Council on April 3, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. (ImageLinkPhoto.com)
Hours later, he was almost upstaged by his outgoing National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster who delivered a blistering rebuke of Russia in remarks at the Atlantic Council. McMaster said that the West has "failed to impose sufficient costs" on Moscow for its aggressive behavior that has ranged from cyberattacks to near-fatal poisonings.
"Russian aggression is strengthening our resolve and our confidence. We might all help Mr. Putin understand his grave error," McMaster said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
McMaster spoke at a dinner hosted by the Atlantic Council for the leaders of the three Baltic states. These were his last public remarks before leaving office. He will be replaced by John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations who is well known for his hawkish foreign policy views.
Trump, whose presidential campaign is the focus of an investigation by Special Prosecutor Robert S. Mueller III into links with Russia, was quick to congratulate Putin over a flawed election victory last month and even invited the Russian president to Washington. In his remarks at a joint press conference with the Baltic leaders on April 3, Trump said he thinks that he could have a "very good relationship" with Putin.
Those prospects would seem bleak given McMaster's assessment.
McMaster contended that the West is engaged in a "fundamental contest between our free and open societies and closed and repressive systems."
In a clear reference to Russia, he added: "Revisionist and repressive powers are attempting to undermine our values, our institutions, and our way of life."
McMaster went on to list a series of Russian aggressions, including hybrid warfare that he described as "a pernicious form of aggression that combines political, economic, informational, and cyber assaults against sovereign nations."
"Russia employs sophisticated strategies deliberately designed to achieve objectives while falling below the target state's threshold for a military response," he said, noting that these tactics include "infiltrating social media, spreading propaganda, weaponizing information, and using other forms of subversion and espionage."
"For too long, some nations have looked the other way in the face of these threats," he said. "Russia brazenly and implausibly denies its actions and we have failed to impose sufficient costs. The Kremlin's confidence is growing as its agents conduct their sustained campaigns to undermine our confidence in ourselves and in one another."
*A positive mind is a courageous mind, without doubts and fears, using the experience and wisdom to give the best of him/herself.
We must dare invent the future!
The only way of limiting the usurpation of power by
individuals, the military or otherwise, is to put the people in charge - Capt. Thomas. Sankara {RIP} '1949-1987
*"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent
revolution inevitable"**… *J.F Kennedy
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