Hawks See Obama's NATO Pick as Soft on Russia

[Purveyor]

By Josh Rogin

At a crucial moment in the U.S. relationship with Europe, President Barack Obama has chosen a No. 2 for NATO whom some Republican lawmakers see as the face of a wrongheaded approach to Russia.

On Tuesday, the Obama administration informed NATO allies that it will recommend the undersecretary of state for arms control, Rose Gottemoeller, to be NATO's next deputy secretary general, the military alliance’s second in command. It is typically a four-year term.

“Our nomination of Rose, a veteran diplomat with extensive experience in European Security Affairs, is a symbol of America’s strong commitment to NATO during a period of heightened challenges,” Douglas Lute, the U.S. permanent representative to NATO, wrote Tuesday in a letter to the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s political arm.

Gottemoeller has been an integral part of the Obama administration’s “reset” policy with Russia, an approach that made modest gains at first but has been all but abandoned in light of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and beyond. Republican critics of that policy have become critics of Gottemoeller as well. Two years ago, many Republican senators, including John Cornyn, James Risch and Marco Rubio, opposed her confirmation for her current job. They object to the terms of the New START Treaty, for which she was the lead negotiator.

There is a new round of criticism with this new nomination. Republican hawks in Congress have faulted her as not rigorous in negotiating and enforcing treaties with Russia. They have alleged that as she pursued new arms-control treaties with Moscow, she was not up front about Russian violations of existing accords. Her critics point to two congressional appearances in particular.

more...

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-03-11/hawks-see-obama-s-nato-pick-as-soft-on-russia

[asiliveandbreathe]

1. Republican HAWKS - only when we give them our young countrymen and

women to send into battle...chicken hawks if you ask me.....

[KoKo]

2. And, CNN was just raving about some other person "Putin Had Killed" from an old story

making him seem like a Mafia Don from the "old days" who does "Hit Jobs" whenever it suits him.

They even had that guy who does the sinister CNN Voice Over for reports having to do with Terrorism/Russia/Breaking News behind the dark scenario with video.

I figured something was up. Maybe this is what it was...is that the Business Community now has to, once again, make some stand against those Pesky Communists in Russia who are just waiting to Nuke us or something. Neocons Flexing Muscles Again? US MSM too involved with Trump/Hillary Race to the Top!

So NOW we get "Obama's NATO Pick Seen as Soft on Russia"

BACK TO TRUMP COVERAGE...."Who did his Goons Take out Today at his Latest Rally for the THOUSANDS! OR...what about Nancy Reagan's Funeral...wasn't that something?" According to Hillary-- Nancy Reagan was a champion and started the first efforts against AIDS!

I should have never turned on MSM just to check on Bernie Coverage. I need a Detox

[swilton]

3. So-called Russian aggression in Ukraine

was the misdeeds of neo-con holdovers in the State Department a la Victoria Nuland and it was a major foreign policy blunder because it among other things restarted the Cold War.

I knew Rose Gottemoeller years ago and hopefully she will indeed reset the policy with Russia.