Donald Trump’s foreign policy adviser, Carter Page, was a busy little bee right before the Republican National Convention and it appears he had a major role in shaping the GOP platform to reflect Donald Trump’s strong affection for Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
This report, from August of this year, ties in quite nicely with the reports from ABC News and Michael Isikoff. It’s very obvious that Trump and advisers like Page have a strong financial interest in normalizing relations with Vladimir Putin’s government.
It’s no coincidence that team Trump changed the GOP platform to favor Putin.
Just days before Republicans adopted a new, more Russia-friendly plank into their party platform, one of Donald Trump’s top advisers visited Moscow in July to deliver speeches criticizing decades of U.S. foreign policy.
Global energy investor Carter Page joined Trump’s team in March. Since then, Page has criticized U.S.-Russia policy in a number of public speeches
Page also suggested the United States should ease economic sanctions imposed on Russia following its 2014 incursion into Ukraine and Crimea, which was condemned in an overwhelming vote in the United Nations. In exchange for sanctions relief, Page said, American companies might be invited to partner with Russian firms to exploit Russia’s oil and gas fields.
Page’s speech just before changes to the RNC platform favoring Vladimir Putin.
The week after Page’s speeches, Trump operatives persuaded Republican Party convention delegates to drop from the party’s platform a call to send arms to Ukraine to help defend the country following Russia’s 2014 occupation and subsequent annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
With Carter Page’s strong financial interests in the Russian oil industry, advocating a get weak foreign policy with Russia is in direct conflict with our current foreign policy. Is Page thinking in the best interest of America’s foreign policy or his bottom line?
I’m guessing he cares about his and Trump’s bottom line.
Page’s financial interests in Russia include investments in the Russian state oil conglomerate Gazprom, as well as consulting work advising companies on how to do business in Russia.
www.bloomberg.com/...
Besides drying up some of his potential deals, the sanctions have hurt Page in other ways. He says he’s an investor in Gazprom—he still attends the annual investor meetings—and blames the trade restrictions for helping drive down the stock.
www.huffingtonpost.com/...
“So many people who I know and have worked with have been so adversely affected by the sanctions policy,” Page said in March. “There’s a lot of excitement in terms of the possibilities for creating a better situation.”
I wonder who these "so many people" are? Could they be Carter Page himself, the Russian Oligarchy, Vladimir Putin, his political allies and Donald Trump?
Donald Trump and Carter Page are certainly not thinking of the citizens of Russia or America’s foreign policy interests abroad. They believe enriching themselves at the expense of America’s foreign policy is good policy for their bank accounts.