jct74
08-07-2018, 02:56 PM
Rand Paul is right to talk to Russia
BY BONNIE KRISTIAN
08/07/18
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) traveled to Russia Monday, and he invited the Russians to Washington.
“During an hour-long meeting today,” the Kentucky Republican’s press release announced, Paul “secured an agreement from Konstantin Kosachev, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, to send members of the Russian Federation to Washington, the first trip from the Russian Federation to the U.S. Capitol in almost three years, to continue dialogue on vital issues such as nuclear non-proliferation and combating terrorism.”
The timing of the visit has yet to be announced, but Kosachev suggested it could happen this fall.
Paul will likely come under criticism for this invitation from those wary of untoward Russian influence on our government. Their wariness is understandable, given — as even President Trump now seems to concede — Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. As would be the case with any other great power, Russia’s values and interests are not identical to our own, and it would be naïve to proceed in conversation to Moscow as if they were.
Yet given all due circumspection, Paul’s overture here is the right move. “Engagement is vital to our national security and peace around the world,” the senator rightly said of his invite, and fostering dialogue with Russia is not a sign of capitulation but of prudence.
...
read more:
http://thehill.com/opinion/international/400695-rand-paul-is-right-to-talk-to-russia
BY BONNIE KRISTIAN
08/07/18
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) traveled to Russia Monday, and he invited the Russians to Washington.
“During an hour-long meeting today,” the Kentucky Republican’s press release announced, Paul “secured an agreement from Konstantin Kosachev, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, to send members of the Russian Federation to Washington, the first trip from the Russian Federation to the U.S. Capitol in almost three years, to continue dialogue on vital issues such as nuclear non-proliferation and combating terrorism.”
The timing of the visit has yet to be announced, but Kosachev suggested it could happen this fall.
Paul will likely come under criticism for this invitation from those wary of untoward Russian influence on our government. Their wariness is understandable, given — as even President Trump now seems to concede — Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. As would be the case with any other great power, Russia’s values and interests are not identical to our own, and it would be naïve to proceed in conversation to Moscow as if they were.
Yet given all due circumspection, Paul’s overture here is the right move. “Engagement is vital to our national security and peace around the world,” the senator rightly said of his invite, and fostering dialogue with Russia is not a sign of capitulation but of prudence.
...
read more:
http://thehill.com/opinion/international/400695-rand-paul-is-right-to-talk-to-russia