FOREIGN POLICY/MIKE PENCE/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump will ‘very soon’ sign a law limiting his ability to lift sanctions against Russia, even though he has ‘concerns’ about the measure, Vice President Mike Pence said on Tuesday [8-1-17].
The announcement during a visit to Tbilisi, Georgia, comes as no surprise, because the Trump administration had signaled it would not stand in the law’s way. But it nonetheless carries significance: It is the first time that Congress, with both houses controlled by Mr. Trump’s fellow Republicans, has imposed its will on the administration on a major policy matter, and the legislation has helped bring relations between Russia and the United States to one of its lowest points since the Cold War.
At least in terms of diplomatic policy, the bet Russia might have made when, according to American intelligence agencies, it interfered in last year’s presidential election in the United States has backfired in spectacular fashion. The legislation was revised, however, to address concerns by American oil and natural gas companies that do business with Russia’s energy sector…
In a brief visit to the Georgian capital, Mr. Pence delivered a message of reassurance to Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili. Russia and Georgia, both former republics of the Soviet Union, fought a brief war in August 2008; since then, Russia has continued to occupy the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in violation of international law.”
-Sewell Chan, “Trump Will Sign Russia Sanctions Law ‘Very Soon,’ Pence Says,” The New York Times online, Aug. 1, 2017