Matt V2.0
Registered: Apr 2002 Posts: 17728 - Threads: 847 Location: Surrey
2016 | Honourable Mention Party Animal
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Lol, Putin plays a master stroke and rules out tit-for-tat expulsions
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38464612
Quote:
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He said Russia would not "stoop" to the level of "irresponsible diplomacy" but would work to restore ties with the US under President-elect Donald Trump.
A skilled hand: Jonathan Marcus, BBC diplomatic correspondent
This was a carefully stage-managed response from Mr Putin - dangling the possibility of tit-for-tat expulsions and then showing magnanimity in postponing any response - at least for now.
It is fundamentally a put-down for the Obama administration, suggesting that, in Moscow's view, it is such a lame-duck, so irrelevant, as to make any response unnecessary.
It also poses an immediate test for President-elect Trump. Will he be convinced by the evidence the US intelligence agencies say they have? And, if so, what course will he steer in his relations with Russia?
This is no new Cold War. Russia is simply a kind of "pocket" superpower, nothing like the Soviet Union of old. But Mr Putin has shown here in relations with the West, as in Ukraine and Syria, that he can play a limited hand with great skill. Mr Trump will need to respond to this challenge in a decisive but graduated way.
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So it's over to Trump and will be an interesting test early on in his presidency.
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