It’s disturbing to see these eight Republican Senators criticized for merely visiting Russia. Isn’t this what they should do as decision makers of whether we go to war or not? Are Democrats now the “war party”? Will every effort to decrease international tension now be criticized and politicized? This cycle started when Trump expressed the desire to improve relations with Russia. It became a political football when the Clinton campaign decided to use Russia as an election issue to cover up its loss against Trump.
According to the Democrats and the Washington Post, there’s nothing positive about this trip, and these Senators now “face scorn and ridicule”. Russian media didn’t help by acting like US cable news. An astonishing lack of good sense all around. I guess people simply don’t understand what is at stake—and it’s not who wins the next election: it’s whether planet earth will survive this push to war between two nuclearized nations. No one seems to comprehend this.
Meanwhile, if accusations are made against Russia without proof (the usual pattern), is Russia not allowed to claim itself not guilty?
Sharon Tennison and Sylvia Demarest
Center for Citizen Initiatives
Washington Post
July 5, 2018
Republicans on Russia trip face scorn and ridicule from critics at home
Republican lawmakers who went to Russia seeking a thaw in relations received an icy reception from Democrats and Kremlin watchers for spending the Fourth of July in a country that interfered in the U.S. presidential election and continues to deny it.
“Cannot believe GOP, once the party that stood strong against Soviets & only a decade ago sought to democratize the Middle East, is now surrendering so foolishly to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and the Kremlin’s kleptocracy — only two years after Russia interfered in U.S. election,” tweeted Clint Watts, an information warfare specialist at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and frequent featured expert before congressional panels examining Russian influence operations.
“Russians wooing with a shopworn song — repugnant as nails on a blackboard,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote in a Twitter post in response to the delegation’s trip. “They are enemies and adversaries, attacking us.”