Trump fails to act on Russian military aggression

By Cynthia Clark

For the past two years, the Russian military has increased aggression against the U.S. on land, at sea and in the air. Why has President Donald Trump failed to act? And why does he continue to kowtow to Russian President Vladimir Putin?

These overt and deliberate acts by Russia have included near collisions between Russian and U.S. Naval ships, American fishermen being buzzed by Russian aircraft, Russian aircraft dangerously intercepting U.S. pilots, a collision between Russian and U.S. armored vehicles, increased Russian sub activity near the U.S., and perhaps most disturbing of all, bounties for the killing of American soldiers reportedly paid by Russian military intelligence to Taliban-linked militants.

These clear acts of aggression have been met with crickets from President Trump. In September, former Vice President Joe Biden said, "Never before has an American president played such a subservient role to a Russian leader. It's not only dangerous, it's humiliating and embarrassing for the rest of the world to see. It weakens us." Biden added, "Not even American troops can feel safer under Trump."

A timeline of aggressive actions by Russia:

• 
  June 2019 - A U.S. Naval vessel and Russian destroyer nearly collide in the Pacific, coming within 50-165 feet of one another in the Philippine Sea in international waters. The USS Chancellorsville had to reverse engines to avoid the collision, while Russians appear to sunbathe on the deck of their destroyer.
  
• June 2019 - Russian aircraft intercept a U.S. aircraft in international airspace over the Mediterranean Sea, coming close the the U.S. plane not once but three times in a 3-hour period, which U.S. Navy officials said was unsafe and dangerous to the pilots and crew of the U.S. military plane.
• January 2020 - Russian warships aggressively approach U.S. Navy Destroyer USS Farragut in the Arabian Sea, coming within 60 yards of the U.S. ship.
• February 2020 - Increased Russian submarine activity reported on America's East Coast, prompting U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Andrew Lewis, commander of the Navy's 2nd Fleet, to say that the East Coast of the U.S. is "no longer an automatic safe haven" for U.S. ships and subs. The Russian subs are quieter and more lethal than ever before and pose a real threat to the U.S.
• March 2020 - U.S. and Canadian aircraft intercept two Russian reconnaissance aircraft that were watching and loitering around a U.S. submarine exercise known as ICEX.
• June 2020 - The New York Times reports that Russian military intelligence is paying bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. The Washington Post reported the program has resulted in at least one death of a U.S. soldier. All of this according to U.S. Intelligence officials.
• 
  June 2020 - NORAD F22 Raptor fighters intercept two formations of Russian bombers over Alaskan Air Defense Zone. The first formation also included two Su-35 fighter jets and an A-50 early warning aircraft and came within 20 nautical miles of Alaska. The second formation, also including an A-50, came within 32 nautical miles of Alaska. Both formations included a pair of Russian Tu-95 "Bear" bomber planes.
  
• August 2020 - A Russian submarine surfaces near Alaska during a Russian war game exercise, according to U.S. military officials. These drills in the Bering Sea disrupted American fishermen, who were also buzzed by Russian aircraft. Some part of our government was informed of the impending exercise, but failed to notify U.S. fishing fleets, putting them in danger.
• August 2020 - Seven U.S. military personnel were injured when a Russian armored vehicle collided with their armored vehicle in Eastern Syria, a move that was called a deliberate provocation and aggressive behavior by the Pentagon.
• September 2020 - An intelligence bulletin issued by the Department of Homeland Security warned that Russia is attempting to undermine the integrity of the 2020 elections by amplifying false claims that mail-in voting results in widespread voter fraud. This harkens back to the proven Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, denied by Trump who backed Putin's denial and undermined his own intelligence agencies in the process.

These overt acts of aggression by a foreign power are disturbing and threaten the safety and security of Americans, not just abroad but even on American soil. And our government does nothing. 

How can the most powerful country in the world fail to act when America is being actively threatened? When President Bill Clinton ordered air strikes on Iraq, he said of Saddam Hussein, "If you act recklessly, you will pay a heavy price." He followed those words with action. After giving Hussein the opportunity to comply, without success, Clinton said, "I made it equally clear that if Saddam failed to cooperate fully, we would be prepared to act without delay, diplomacy or warning." And that's exactly what happened.

President Ronald Reagan once said, "History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap." Putin must really think he's getting a bargain. The Reagan Doctrine, in his 1985 State of the Union address near the end of the Cold War, said, "We must not break faith with those who are risking their lives ... to defy Soviet-supported aggression and secure rights which have been ours from birth."

These are the words of a leader. The words of Donald Trump, on the other hand, don't exist. Since finding out from our own CIA about bounties on American soldiers, Trump has done nothing but first call his own intelligence report "fake news" and then blame staffers for failing to bring it to his attention, although the assessment was in his written intelligence brief in February, though apparently he never reads his briefs.

"Putin is aggressively challenging U.S. military dominance and Trump is sitting on his hands."

Trump talked to Putin on July 23 and said nothing about the bounties on U.S. soldiers. It's October and he has still said nothing. He is either afraid of Putin or he's a Russian asset. Or, he is just incompetent. Or all three. Either way, he has to go. The United States needs a capable leader who will listen to his own intelligence community. Trump's ego overshadows his ability to lead and to protect America's best interests. In 2016, when asked on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" who he consults about foreign policy, Trump replied, "I'm speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I've said a lot of things." He continued, "... my primary consultant is myself and I have a good instinct for this stuff."

No. No, you don't. You most definitely do not. Putin is aggressively challenging U.S. military dominance and Trump is sitting on his hands. The United States needs a president who will shake off the puppet strings and start calling the shots. Someone who will restore our standing with our allies and ensure that the U.S. Military remains the greatest military power in the world. Our national security is riding on it. We must choose wisely and vote for a true commander in chief - Joe Biden.