© Mike Stone / ReutersRex Tillerson
US President-elect Donald Trump has picked Rex Tillerson, the head of oil giant ExxonMobil, as his Secretary of State.
He is to become the 69th Secretary of State and will also serve as a member of the National Security Council.
RT: Trump has picked Rex Tillerson as his Secretary of State, what do you think about his choice?
John Wight: Nobody can accuse Donald Trump of being a timid man. In the midst of the full-blown campaign to delegitimize his election as president emanating from CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, he has gone ahead and selected a man for Secretary of State, who not only has no prior political experience but has long-standing positive relations with Russia and with Vladimir Putin. It confirms that Donald Trump is sincere and maintains his intent on reestablishing relations with Moscow on positive foundations. And that all goes well in that regards....All in all, it is a very bold choice on the part of the president-elect and has certainly stirred some controversy in Washington. He is not an insider, Donald Trump himself is not a political insider. And he certainly seems sincere when he maintains that he intends to embark on a new direction when it comes to governing the US.
RT: Critics say Rex Tillerson has no political experience. What kind of reaction do you expect from US politicians?
JW: There is going to be a lot of hostility because he is going outside the Beltway. On the issue of experience, logic there takes that the experience that we've had until now has been very negative. Look at the world, look at the state of the world, given the role of the US under the Obama administration. The world is in chaos, relations between Washington and Moscow are the worst they have ever been since and during the Cold War apart from perhaps the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. And so Donald Trump quite rightly walks away from the wreckage of US foreign policy under his soon to be predecessor. It is time for a change. And it is time to ensure that change means change and it is not just rhetoric as we've seen so many times over the years when it comes to the US administrations.
RT: Tillerson's nomination still needs to be approved by the Senate. How do you expect this to play out?
JW: It is not going to be smooth, that's for sure. As I say, there is a full-blown campaign to delegitimize Donald Trump's election with the allegation that Vladimir Putin rather than the American people, if you can believe that, was responsible for that election. Hopefully, by the time these hearings come to play all the heat has died down and calm heads are prevailing, and reason is restored in Washington. There is going to be opposition to this pick. But Donald Trump has a lot of momentum behind him. He was elected as an anti-establishment candidate. And Rex Tillerson will be seen as a part of that anti-establishment future for the US...
John Wight has written for newspapers and websites across the world, including the Independent, Morning Star, Huffington Post, Counterpunch, London Progressive Journal, and Foreign Policy Journal.He is also a regular commentator on RT and BBC Radio. John is currently working on a book exploring the role of the West in the Arab Spring. You can follow him on Twitter @JohnWight1
Tell me again how the head of Exxon is anti-establishment in a world run by oil?