As I sip my reheated coffee this morning I am once again thinking about Russia and the relationship between Vlad and Cheeto.
It was probably no surprise that Angela Merkel reported yesterday that Russian dissident Alexy Nevalny was definitely poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok. The MO was almost identical to the poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia Skripal in England in 2018 to which Cheeto was reluctant to condemn and very late to the party when he did respond. This latest attack drew quick condemnation and the demand for answers from Britain and Germany. As you might expect Putin's puppet Cheeto and pliable Pompeo were silent on the whole incident. A lower level official in the National Security Council was left to comment. Does this follow a well-established pattern by now?
It continues to be very troubling that Cheeto has embraced Russia and is willing to ignore anything they do. As I noted yesterday, it has been over two months since the revelations about the bounties for U.S. soldiers was released and Cheeto has yet to condemn the action - an indifference of the first order when your "Commander in Chief" doesn't defend the military. Is it any surprise that he would not criticize Russia for the poisoning of Alexy Nevlany? In the meantime, Russian aggression in Syria continues to put U.S. forces in an untenable position and at increased risk. It will be interesting to see if Cheeto and the DoD have a falling out over these incidents which he dare not ignore.
It seems like the most definitive response Cheeto is going to give is to continue to lobby for the admission of Russia into the G7. That's right, let's reward Russia's aggression and destabilizing activities with admission to the G7. That will show them how tough Cheeto can be.
Maybe someday we will find out what the magic potion is that Vlad uses to control Cheeto. But it is clear, that Vlad can act with completed impunity and the the 'official U.S. response' will be to ignore his actions.
I am going to work on another cup of java this morning while I think about Vlad and my favorite dummy, Jerry Mahoney.