Russia Puts Bounty On U.S. Soldiers - Trump Does NOTHING!

For three years we have been wondering why Donald Trump has been pandering to Vladimir Putin of Russia. Immediately after taking office, Trump tried to remove sanctions against Russia (and only action by Congress stopped that). Then he was cowed by Putin at the Helsinki conference, where he said he didn't believe Russia had interfered in the 2016 election (even though all of the U.S. intelligence agencies have offered proof that it happened). And since then, he has supported Putin and followed policies that hurt our European partners.

But this latest thing is beyond the pale, and once again has me wondering what terrible secret Putin is holding over Trump to make him dance to Russia's tune. Trump has known since March that Russia is offering bounties to Afghans to kill coalition troops in that country -- including United States soldiers. And our intelligence agencies says some of those bounties have been paid by Russia for killing our soldiers.

A real U.S. president would have taken immediate action to stop this. What has Trump done? Nothing! In fact, it is worse than nothing. Since March, when he knew this was happening, he has helped Russia negotiate a lucrative oil deal, said he will invite Putin to attend the next G-7 meeting, and ordered the removal of half our troops from Germany -- all things to reward Putin!

Here is how The New York Times is reporting this story:

American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan — including targeting American troops — amid the peace talks to end the long-running war there, according to officials briefed on the matter.

The United States concluded months ago that the Russian unit, which has been linked to assassination attempts and other covert operations in Europe intended to destabilize the West or take revenge on turncoats, had covertly offered rewards for successful attacks last year.

Islamist militants, or armed criminal elements closely associated with them, are believed to have collected some bounty money, the officials said. Twenty Americans were killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2019, but it was not clear which killings were under suspicion.

The intelligence finding was briefed to President Trump, and the White House’s National Security Council discussed the problem at an interagency meeting in late March, the officials said. Officials developed a menu of potential options — starting with making a diplomatic complaint to Moscow and a demand that it stop, along with an escalating series of sanctions and other possible responses, but the White House has yet to authorize any step, the officials said.

An operation to incentivize the killing of American and other NATO troops would be a significant and provocative escalation of what American and Afghan officials have said is Russian support for the Taliban, and it would be the first time the Russian spy unit was known to have orchestrated attacks on Western troops.

Any involvement with the Taliban that resulted in the deaths of American troops would also be a huge escalation of Russia’s so-called hybrid war against the United States, a strategy of destabilizing adversaries through a combination of such tactics as cyberattacks, the spread of fake news and covert and deniable military operations. . . .

Spokespeople at the National Security Council, the Pentagon, the State Department and the C.I.A. declined to comment.

The officials familiar with the intelligence did not explain the White House delay in deciding how to respond to the intelligence about Russia.