Preparing for Trump? US Congressman to lead Congressional delegation to Russia

Dean Parker
Russia Insider
Thu, 05 Jan 2017 14:01 UTC

Congressman Rohrabacher

Dana Rohrabacher, the long-serving Republican congressman from California has announced he will be leading a Congressional delegation on an official visit to Russia next month. There he will meet with his Russian counterparts from the Russian parliament (the Duma).

Well OK so an unspecified number of American legislators will travel to Moscow to speak to Russian MPs. Who cares, right? After all it is not as if any of them get to direct foreign policy.

Except consider this:

Rohrabacher, who sees China as America's biggest rival by far, has long been an outspoken supporter of pursuing better relations with Russia. He is identified as an important (and rare) ally of Trump in Congress, who has likewise stated repeatedly he would like to "get along with Russia" and who also harbors serious misgivings about China. Actually Rohrabacher was named in the press as a serious contender for the Secretary of State job which eventually went to the Exxon CEO Tillerson and was one of the people who has met with Trump since he was elected.

Whether he has talked about this trip with Trump or not, it is highly likely that Rohrabacher's hope is that his visit will pave the way for more US-Russia contacts at a higher level.

Are Trump, Tillerson and Rohrabacher trio going to attempt a "reverse Nixon" and try to lure Russia away from China? We don't know but if they were to do it, this would be how they would start it off. (Nixon likewise did not merely show up on China's doorstep one day. His visit was preceded by several months of preparations including a preceding (secret) trip by Henry Kissinger.)

Comment: It's great to see someone seeking to mend relations with Russia. As Congressman Rohrabacher has said in past delegations to Russia,

"Thank you for what you are doing in Syria. From me!" Rohrabacher said in front of Russian and US parliamentary delegations. "I've been talking to ordinary Americans and I say: It's great they have Russia down there killing the terrorists that want to kill us. And they thank you too." [...]

"The children of our countries will pay for the stupidity of what is going on in our relations," the California Republican Congressman said, as he laughed about the US leadership which called Russia, the "greatest threat to the United States."

But if the US thinks they can lure Russia away from China, after sabotaging them in Ukraine, Syria, sanctions, and waves of propaganda, they're in for yet another embarrassing defeat.