Rex Tillerson Warrants Scrutiny Because He’s An Oligarch, Not Because He Shook Hands With Putin

The Democratic Party and their media allies are so oblivious and pathological that they are going to campaign against Rex Tillerson, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, primarily on the ground Tillerson has extensive business ties to Russia. The problem in their eyes lies not with Tillerson’s oligarchic qualities — he is CEO of one of the most powerful companies in the world, ExxonMobil, which has permanently wrecked the natural environment of places like my native North NJ — but the fact that he received some award from Putin. That will be what Democrats dwell on.

Russia, like most countries on earth, is dominated by oligarchic interests. It’s therefore not surprising that the oligarch Tillerson would have done some deals with Russia, especially given that Russia occupies 1/8 of the Earth’s total land mass, which includes vast oil reserves. Casting this as inherently sinister by virtue of RUSSIA!!!! completely misses the point. It’s also baldly Russophobic; reflexively imputing nefarious motives to anyone associated with Russia is classic, textbook xenophobia, even though Democrats (along with their newfound neoconservative allies) like to presume they are above this nasty impulse.

If you want to identify a problem with Tillerson’s Russia dealings, fine — but be specific. If the problem you identify is grounded solely on the presumption that Russia is inherently sinister, then you are indulging in xenophobia. If the problem has to do with general oligarchic malaise, OK — but that’s not a Russia-specific issue, it’s a capitalistic-excess issue.

Apparently the Clintons thought highly enough of Tillerson to laud him in internal documents:

Were the Clintons lauding one of Putin’s puppets? Were they too involved in the conspiracy?

I have no idea whether Tillerson is suited to run the State Department; I do know that I have an inherent aversion to oligarchs who run exploitative multinational corporations. That would be the basis for my suspicion of Tillerson; not the fact that he did deals with Russia. But RUSSIA!!!! will of course dominate media coverage, because it’s supposed to reflect poorly on Trump:

I’m still waiting for someone to explain why it’s suddenly so awful to seek good relations with Russia, especially after Obama made that a major priority of his first-term foreign policy agenda, successfully enacting the New START treaty over the objections of hawkish hardline Republicans. These treaty negotiations occurred well after the Russia-Georgia conflict of 2008, which inflamed the typical neoconservative bloviators just as much as the Crimea annexation of 2014. Various Russian journalists had also been targeted long before Obama spearheaded the START treaty. So when people cite “Russian aggression” and “targeting of journalists” as reasons why their posture toward Russia has completely flipped since the 2012 election, they are not being sincere. The only real new variable is Trump, and Trump’s supposed disreputable associations with Russia. That’s the reason why they’ve flipped: pure partisan opportunism.

Can someone also explain why the above photo of Tillerson and Putin shaking hands is supposed to have such malevolent connations, but the following photo is not:

Tillerson is the type of guy that most Democrats would probably politely applaud if not for the insane Trump/Russia hysteria in which they are presently gripped.

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