Even the Indains see this administration as a joke.
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Russia reacts to White House soap opera with a shrug
"Nobody pays any attention any more, or expects any improvements," said a person close to the Russian government, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to discuss foreign policy issues.
The soap opera of White House personnel changes, intrigue and investigations has alarmed a part of the American public and shocked some foreign governments, yet Russian officials have found their own way of responding. With a shrug. Russia’s elite celebrated when Donald Trump was elected president because it expected a thaw in relations, but expectations since then have plummeted so far that in Moscow, signs of dysfunction in the administration barely register.
“Nobody pays any attention any more, or expects any improvements,” said a person close to the Russian government, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to discuss foreign policy issues. Employing a folk saying to describe how the turbulence inside the White House is viewed in Moscow’s official circles, the source said: “The dog barks, and the caravan moves on.” Russia, more than many other countries, has a vested interest in an effective US presidential administration that can deliver on Trump’s campaign promises. Those included a push to restore friendly relations with Russia and to review the economic sanctions that cause pain for Moscow.
That was why, when Trump’s election victory was announced in the lower house of Russia’s parliament, the lawmakers broke into spontaneous applause. Since then though, Trump’s Russia agenda has been bogged down in allegations that Moscow helped him get elected, and a backlash from Congress that resulted last week in the United States imposing a new set of sanctions on Moscow.
At the same time, Trump’s administration has been in a state of flux: he fired first his national security advisor, then the head of the FBI, then in quick succession his press secretary, his chief of staff and his director of communications. Russian officials trying to interact with the U.S. administration on mundane organisational issues say privately the turbulence in the White House causes them headaches because they don’t know who to talk to, or can wait weeks for answers to their questions.
Trump’s shoot-from-the-hip management style is anathema to the Russian way of running an administration under President Vladimir Putin. He has had the same press secretary for the past nine years and his de facto director of communications has worked for him since he became president 17 years ago. Still, Russian officials and people close to them – who all spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject – say that half a year into the Trump presidency, they now see events in Washington as more of an exotic sideshow than an existential threat.
“It seems to me that no one in Moscow is particularly interested in the personnel changes in Washington any more,” said a former senior official who is familiar with Kremlin thinking. The reason, he said, is that whoever Trump brings into his White House is unlikely to change the course of U.S.-Russian relations.
SAD, AND FUNNY
http://indianexpress.com/article/wo...-a-shrug-donald-trump-vladimir-putin-4787939/