Ten reasons why a Trump-Putin relationship will be beneficial

Russia presents a most interesting case in which a Trump presidency could make a big difference in U.S. foreign policy.

Vladimir Putin is no democratic, freedom-loving president, but he is a wildly popular leader in Russia who is very smart and strategic. Russia remains a nuclear superpower, occupies the biggest land mass of any country, has vast natural resources and can influence many countries in the world.

{mosads}Putin is driven by his ego and by a desire to restore dignity and respect for his country to further bolster his popularity in Russia. He knows exactly how far he can go and plays his hand wisely. Invading Crimea was a well-planned and calculated move because he knew the West was not determined enough to stop it.

Donald Trump understands that there is a big opportunity to achieve American foreign policy goals much more easily by partnering with Russia and brushing aside ideological concerns. This partnership would bring about many foreign policy challenges in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. Here are the benefits of such a partnership:

1.     There would be real peace between the two nuclear superpowers instead of provocative games that could lead to a catastrophic accident.

2.     By partnering with Russia, the U.S. concerns over freedom of press and human rights violations would be seen with less animosity, and the U.S. would get more insights into the situation inside Russia.

3.     Russia would no longer be inclined to confront the United States militarily on a daily basis to show its strength (daily flyovers over our ships, encounters close to our coasts, etc.). 

4.     The United States and Russia could join forces to fight radical Islam and destroy ISIS together as well as share intelligence on terror plots (i.e. Boston bombing might have been prevented).

5.     Cooperation would lead to solving Syrian civil war.

6.     If working together and trusting each other, both countries would need fewer military resources while putting much more pressure on rogue regimes like Pakistan, Turkey, Iran and North Korea.

7.     Europe would be a much safer place without further need to militarize Eastern European NATO states and a real truce in the Ukraine.

8.     Russia could help effectively stop nuclear proliferation to radical terrorist organizations.

9.     Easier access for U.S. companies to Russian natural resources, and Russia as well as Europe would benefit from lifting the economic sanctions in place — a win-win economically.

10.  The United States could stop Russia from partnering with China, Turkey and Iran against the United States. This could help the U.S. taking a hard stand against China in its economic negotiations and in the South China Sea standoff.  

The U.S. and the world has a lot to gain in better relations with Putin. It just takes an attitude of understanding and accommodating their national pride while establishing and holding red lines.

Donald Trump will be better at this than Hillary Clinton and President Obama, who have shown that they don’t get the concept of red lines, nor national pride.

Bernhard Klee is a recently naturalized American citizen who immigrated from Austria and will vote in his first U.S. presidential election this fall. He works as a marketing executive near Seattle and recently published the book, “The United States of Trump — An Independent Guide to the Trump Phenomenon and the General Election.”

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