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Israeli, Saudi, Emirati Officials Privately Pushed for Trump to Strike a "Grand Bargain" with Putin
During a private meeting shortly before the November, 2016, election, Mohammed bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, floated to a longtime American interlocutor what sounded, at the time, like an unlikely grand bargain. The Emirati leader told the American that Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, might be interested in resolving the conflict in Syria in exchange for the lifting of sanctions imposed in response to Russias actions in Ukraine.
Current and former U.S. officials said that bin Zayed, known as M.B.Z., was not the only leader in the region who favored rapprochement between the former Cold War adversaries. While Americas closest allies in Europe viewed with a sense of dread Trumps interest in partnering with Putin, three countries that enjoyed unparallelled influence with the incoming AdministrationIsrael, Saudi Arabia, and the U.A.E.privately embraced the goal. Officials from the three countries have repeatedly encouraged their American counterparts to consider ending the Ukraine-related sanctions in return for Putins help in removing Iranian forces from Syria.
Experts say that such a deal would be unworkable, even if Trump were interested. They say Putin has neither the interest nor the ability to pressure Iranian forces to leave Syria. Administration officials have said that Syria and Ukraine will be among the topics that Trump and Putin will discuss at their summit in Helsinki on July 16th. White House officials did not respond to a request for comment.
The special counsel, Robert Mueller, and his F.B.I. team, tasked with probing Russias interference in the 2016 election, have been investigating whether the U.A.E. facilitated contacts between Trumps team and Russian officials and sought to influence U.S. politics. Nine days before Trumps Inauguration, Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater and a confidant of Steve Bannon, met at M.B.Z.s resort in the Seychelles with Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russias sovereign wealth fund, whom the Emiratis used as a go-between with Putin. (An April, 2017, Washington Post story that I co-wrote revealed the Indian Ocean encounter and stated that the UAE agreed to broker the meeting in part to explore whether Russia could be persuaded to curtail its relationship with Iran, including in Syria, a Trump administration objective that would be likely to require major concessions to Moscow on U.S. sanctions.)
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/israeli-saudi-and-emirati-officials-privately-pushed-for-trump-to-strike-a-grand-bargain-with-putin
Current and former U.S. officials said that bin Zayed, known as M.B.Z., was not the only leader in the region who favored rapprochement between the former Cold War adversaries. While Americas closest allies in Europe viewed with a sense of dread Trumps interest in partnering with Putin, three countries that enjoyed unparallelled influence with the incoming AdministrationIsrael, Saudi Arabia, and the U.A.E.privately embraced the goal. Officials from the three countries have repeatedly encouraged their American counterparts to consider ending the Ukraine-related sanctions in return for Putins help in removing Iranian forces from Syria.
Experts say that such a deal would be unworkable, even if Trump were interested. They say Putin has neither the interest nor the ability to pressure Iranian forces to leave Syria. Administration officials have said that Syria and Ukraine will be among the topics that Trump and Putin will discuss at their summit in Helsinki on July 16th. White House officials did not respond to a request for comment.
The special counsel, Robert Mueller, and his F.B.I. team, tasked with probing Russias interference in the 2016 election, have been investigating whether the U.A.E. facilitated contacts between Trumps team and Russian officials and sought to influence U.S. politics. Nine days before Trumps Inauguration, Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater and a confidant of Steve Bannon, met at M.B.Z.s resort in the Seychelles with Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russias sovereign wealth fund, whom the Emiratis used as a go-between with Putin. (An April, 2017, Washington Post story that I co-wrote revealed the Indian Ocean encounter and stated that the UAE agreed to broker the meeting in part to explore whether Russia could be persuaded to curtail its relationship with Iran, including in Syria, a Trump administration objective that would be likely to require major concessions to Moscow on U.S. sanctions.)
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/israeli-saudi-and-emirati-officials-privately-pushed-for-trump-to-strike-a-grand-bargain-with-putin
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Israeli, Saudi, Emirati Officials Privately Pushed for Trump to Strike a "Grand Bargain" with Putin (Original Post)
muriel_volestrangler
Jul 2018
OP
CatMor
(6,212 posts)1. It infuriates me regarding all the foreign interference in our last election...
I don't know if I'm naive or does this go on in every US presidential election.
lark
(22,994 posts)2. This is in no way normal.
I have never heard of anything within light years of this level of treachery against our country.
CatMor
(6,212 posts)4. I haven't heard anything like this either ....
thats why I thought maybe i was not aware.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)3. Three names for the list of enemies
Sophia4
(3,515 posts)5. The news today has just been awful. This is just one item that is downright scary.
The item about the administrative judges is horrifying.
Google it if you don't know what I am talking about.
Scandalous.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)6. This is really starting to fucking stink