Rex Tillerson: an appointment that confirms Putin's US election win

The president-elect has chosen Exxon Mobil CEO as secretary of state but experts say Senate may bridle over realpolitik choice that would benefit Russia

Rex Tillerson’s nomination as the next secretary of state confirms Vladimir Putin as one of the strategic victors of the US presidential election.

Barack Obama has ordered an inquiry into covert Russian intervention in the campaign, which the CIA says was designed to secure a victory for Donald Trump. But whether or not Russian intervention made a significant difference to the outcome, a Tillerson appointment would represent a significant gain for Moscow. He must be confirmed by the Senate.

While the other leading candidates for the job held largely traditional and adversarial views on Russia, the outgoing chief executive of Exxon Mobil has a history of close business ties to Putin, who bestowed the Order of Friendship on Tillerson in 2013.

The Wall Street Journal reported: “Friends and associates said few US citizens are closer to Mr Putin than Mr Tillerson.”

The 64-year-old Texas oilman spent much of his career working on Russian deals, including a 2011 agreement giving Exxon Mobil access to the huge resources under the Russian Arctic in return for giving the giant state-owned Russian oil company, OAO Rosneft, the opportunity to invest in Exxon Mobil’s operations overseas.

Tillerson is also friends with the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, a former interpreter who worked as chief of staff for Putin when he was deputy mayor in St Petersburg in the mid-1990s. Sechin, sometimes described as the second-most-powerful man in Russia, is now under US sanctions. He has said that one of his ambitions is to “ride the roads in the United States on motorcycles with Tillerson”.

The 2011 Exxon-Rosneft agreement was frozen when sanctions were imposed on Russia in 2014, following the annexation of Crimea and covert military intervention in eastern Ukraine. Exxon Mobil estimated the sanctions cost it $1bn and Tillerson has argued strenuously for the measures to be lifted.

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Adrinius wrote:The EC elects Sanders for president. All problems solved.

PensivePenny wrote:

Adrinius wrote:The EC elects Sanders for president. All problems solved.

All problems? What about the civil war that starts as the alt right, guns-guts-and-glory crowd are convinced Trump was right about the system "being rigged."

purplerat wrote:The prevailing theory is that if by some miracle the EC did not go for Trump with the requisite 270 votes there would be a Republican consensus pick. Somebody like John Kasich or Mitt Romney, maybe even Paul Ryan would be the likely choices. Basically a Republican who Dems can stomach for 4 years.

In a surprising act of rebellion, the U.S. Department of Energy is refusing President-elect Trump’s request to turn over the names of climate researchers.

It was reported late last week that the Trump transition team submitted a lengthy questionnaire to agency officials asking dozens of routine questions, but with one worrying question that asked about the Department of Energy’s (DoE) meetings about climate change, and for officials to turn over all names of meeting attendants along with any and all documents produced as a result of those meetings.

Senator Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) issued a statement in response to the questionnaire that read, “This request suggests that your administration may intend to retaliate against career employees who faithfully executed their responsibilities.”

On Tuesday morning, however, a DoE spokesman announced that the agency would not be complying with the request included in the questionnaire.

“We are going to respect the professional and scientific integrity and independence of our employees at our labs and across our department,” said DoE spokesman Eben Burnham-Snyder. “We will be forthcoming with all publicly-available information with the transition team. We will not be providing any individual names to the transition team.”

In addition to Burnham-Snyder’s statement, the president of the union representing DoE workers blasted the Trump transition team for requesting names of climate researchers.

SafeAsMilk wrote:There was lots of reasons. Folks like you encouraging people to vote against Hillary was part of it too, in case you've forgotten. How're you enjoying the cabinet appointees? Everything you hoped?