Litwin
Platinum Member
100% agree with Fiona Hill,
"Ex-Trump Adviser Says Putin Living In A 'Bubble,' Out Of Fresh Ideas To Move Moscow horde Forward
7/30/20
WASHINGTON -- A former senior foreign policy adviser to President Donald Trump said U.S. policy toward Russia continues to be hamstrung by partisan politics but that Moscow also needs to change its behavior for bilateral relations to improve. Fiona Hill, who served as the top Russia adviser in the National Security Council until July 2019 and authored a book on President Vladimir Putin, also said the Kremlin leader may be slowly losing touch with his population after more than 20 years in power. In an video discussion hosted by the Wilson Center think tank in Washington on July 29, Hill lamented that Russia remains the subject of “endless” conspiracy theories and congressional hearings over its interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, which makes it tough for the administration to pursue progress on key bilateral issues. “We can’t keep living in this frame of 2016 forever,” said Hill, who is now a senior fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. "National security issues should not be partisan, they should not be politicized because they affect all of us, and the risks of something getting out of control are far too high." Hill, however, said Russia continues to view the relationship with the United States as a geopolitical competition and carries out “tactical operations” that undermine bilateral relations.
The Russia analyst said she thinks that Putin has become complacent after two decades in power and questioned whether he can adapt to the changes taking place inside the country. “He is in something of a bubble. I don’t want to say that he has lost his edge, but I do think he has kind of lost a little bit of the feel of what is going on domestically, and that is inevitable,” she said. She called changes to the Russian Constitution that elevated the primacy of the Russian language and Orthodox religion as “very dangerous.” Hill said that Putin had been cautious earlier in his political career to avoid issues that might spark ethnic or religious divisions. “He is obviously fairly confident that he can pander right now to this larger [ethnic Russian] base, and I worry about this. I worry that is a failure to see how things have evolved,” she said. Putin seems to be out of “fresh ideas” to move Russia forward this decade, running the risk that his “brand” becomes stale, she said. The Kremlin’s current foreign policy is not the answer to that problem, she said. “[Putin] keeps saying he is going to do something for the country, but mud wrestling with the United States from here to perpetuity isn’t really doing something for the country,” she said. "
"Ex-Trump Adviser Says Putin Living In A 'Bubble,' Out Of Fresh Ideas To Move Moscow horde Forward
7/30/20
WASHINGTON -- A former senior foreign policy adviser to President Donald Trump said U.S. policy toward Russia continues to be hamstrung by partisan politics but that Moscow also needs to change its behavior for bilateral relations to improve. Fiona Hill, who served as the top Russia adviser in the National Security Council until July 2019 and authored a book on President Vladimir Putin, also said the Kremlin leader may be slowly losing touch with his population after more than 20 years in power. In an video discussion hosted by the Wilson Center think tank in Washington on July 29, Hill lamented that Russia remains the subject of “endless” conspiracy theories and congressional hearings over its interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, which makes it tough for the administration to pursue progress on key bilateral issues. “We can’t keep living in this frame of 2016 forever,” said Hill, who is now a senior fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. "National security issues should not be partisan, they should not be politicized because they affect all of us, and the risks of something getting out of control are far too high." Hill, however, said Russia continues to view the relationship with the United States as a geopolitical competition and carries out “tactical operations” that undermine bilateral relations.
The Russia analyst said she thinks that Putin has become complacent after two decades in power and questioned whether he can adapt to the changes taking place inside the country. “He is in something of a bubble. I don’t want to say that he has lost his edge, but I do think he has kind of lost a little bit of the feel of what is going on domestically, and that is inevitable,” she said. She called changes to the Russian Constitution that elevated the primacy of the Russian language and Orthodox religion as “very dangerous.” Hill said that Putin had been cautious earlier in his political career to avoid issues that might spark ethnic or religious divisions. “He is obviously fairly confident that he can pander right now to this larger [ethnic Russian] base, and I worry about this. I worry that is a failure to see how things have evolved,” she said. Putin seems to be out of “fresh ideas” to move Russia forward this decade, running the risk that his “brand” becomes stale, she said. The Kremlin’s current foreign policy is not the answer to that problem, she said. “[Putin] keeps saying he is going to do something for the country, but mud wrestling with the United States from here to perpetuity isn’t really doing something for the country,” she said. "
