Виконавчий директор національної енергетичної компанії «Нафтогаз» Юрій Вітренко в ефірі Радіо Свобода назвав декілька причин такої ситуації
…

The outrage was aired first of all on social media forums — before spilling chaotically on to the streets with Saturday’s mass protests catching Iranian authorities off-guard and exposing how many Iranians hold the country’s embattled regime in disdain.After three days of public denials, the confession Saturday by the Iranian military that it was behind last week’s downing of a Ukrainian airliner sparked fury and demands for the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to resign.The belated admission — after days of denials — of the unintentional shooting down of the passenger jet, and Khamenei’s promise the culprits will be punished, appears not to have staunched a flood of anger that broke through the narrow limits of criticism Iranian authorities allow. Saturday’s protests come weeks after Iran faced the country’s bloodiest unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Dozens are thought to have been killed.Videos posted on social media showed hundreds of mainly young people gathering to protest at several universities in the Iranian capital. They had come ostensibly to honor the 176 who died when the Iranian military accidentally shot down the airliner, apparently mistaking it for a U.S. cruise missile.Sorry, but your player cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
FILE – Iranian mourners gather during the final stage of funeral processions for slain top general Qassem Soleimani, in his hometown Kerman, Jan. 7, 2020.Considered to be the most powerful man in Iran after Khamenei, his funeral last week in his native city of Kerman was attended by hundreds of thousands of mourners — in the crush 56 people were killed. The grief expressed by many Iranians for the general was genuine, according to regional experts.“Such is the culture of reverence for ‘martyrs’ in Iran, going back to the Sunni-Shia schism in the 7th century, and the latent hostility towards America that in death the commander was always going to be elevated to the status of national hero,” former British diplomat Peter Westmacott said.But the former envoy added, in a commentary for Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper, that Soleimani was a controversial figure in Iran, too, and had been “increasingly attracting criticism at home.”Disapproval of Soleimani among reform-minded Iranians spilled out publicly Saturday, as anti-government protesters chanted that America is not “our enemy.” Demonstrators carefully avoided walking on U.S. and Israeli flags painted on the street outside one university. Students outside Shahid Beheshti University booed revolutionary guardsmen as they trampled on the painted flags, chanting: “Shame on you.””Our enemy is right here, they lie saying it’s America,” another shouted.The shooting down of the passenger plane is being billed as Iran’s Chernobyl moment, the 1986 disaster in Soviet Ukraine which exposed all the incompetence, state deception and rot in that regime,” according to Iran Wire, an opposition news site for Iranian citizen journalists.FILE – General view of the debris of the Ukrainian plane that was shot down on the outskirts of Tehran, Jan. 8, 2020. (Screen grab obtained from a social media video via Reuters).It said: “There is a widespread sense that Iran’s government was only forced into admitting its responsibility under pressure from governments such as Canada, which lost more than 60 of its citizens in the crash, most of them dual citizens of Iranian background.”Western analysts say the comparison to the Chernobyl disaster — which is thought to have hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union — goes too far.Even so, analysts say Iranian authorities are facing possibly their biggest crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Observers note the speed with which senior clerical, political and military leaders appeared to be scrambling to contain the fallout from what President Hassan Rouhani Saturday termed a “disastrous mistake.”A day earlier, one of Rouhani’s top advisers called assessments by Western intelligence that Iran had shot down the jet “psychological warfare.” Hessameddin Ashna, tweeted, “A warning is given to Iranian nationals working in Persian language media about participating in the psychological warfare related to the Ukrainian airplane.” Ashna said the claims that Iran was behind the shooting down of the plane was just a media “counter-attack” by America.Notably, criticism of the government isn’t confined to opposition groups and outlets. Iran’s moderate Etemad newspaper wrote in a banner headline Sunday, “Apologize and resign.” It said the “people’s demand” was that all those responsible for mishandling the plane crisis should quit.That appeared to be a direct riposte to Ayatollah Khamenei, who expressed “deep sympathy” to those who died in the downing of the jet but did not apologize, leaving that to other senior officials.Despite the tough line taken Saturday by police, Sunday saw more anti-government demonstrations. In the town of Sanandaj, according to a video posted online, security forces beat female protesters. In Tehran, a protester tweeted that security forces had blocked roads to try to “stop us from protesting.”She added: “We’ve managed to get around them. Now there are sounds of gunfire.”
 
…

The leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said Sunday that Iran’s missile attacks on two bases in Iraq housing U.S. forces was only the start of the retaliation for America’s killing a top Iranian general in a drone strike.
Hassan Nasrallah described Iran’s ballistic missile response as a “slap” to Washington, one that sent a message. The limited strikes caused no casualties and appeared to be mainly a show of force.
The leader of Hezbollah, which is closely aligned with Iran, said the strikes were the “first step down a long path” that will ensure U.S. troops withdraw from the region. 
“The Americans must remove their bases, soldiers and officers and ships from our region. The alternative … to leaving vertically is leaving horizontally. This is a decisive and firm decision,”  Nasrallah said. 
“We are speaking about the start of a phase, about a new battle, about a new era in the region,” he added.
His 90-minute televised speech marked one week since the killing of Iran’s Gen. Qassim Soleimani. 
Nasrallah praised Soleimani for his steadfast support for Hezbollah. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has provided training for Hezbollah, which fought in the war in Syria alongside Iran-backed militias that Soleimani directed. 
Nasrallah said that the world is a different place after Soleimani’s death, and not a safer place as some U.S. officials have declared. 
Iran had for days been promising to respond forcefully to Soleimani’s killing. But after the ballistic missile strikes, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that the country had “concluded proportionate measures in self-defense.”
Nasrallah also praised the Iran’s leadership for admitting to accidentally shooting down a Ukrainian passenger plane on the night it launched the missile attacks. He called the acknowledgement “transparency that is unparalleled in the world.” 
The plane crash early Wednesday killed all 176 people on board, mostly Iranians and Iranian-Canadians. Iran had initially pointed to a technical failure and insisted the armed forces were not to blame.
Hezbollah is one of Iran’s main allies in the region and is a sworn enemy of Israel, with which it has had a series of confrontations, lastly in 2006.
…

Контрактів і переговорів щодо купівлі газу у Росії немає, заявив виконавчий директор національної енергетичної компанії «Нафтогаз» Юрій Вітренко в ефірі Радіо Свобода.

Відповідаючи на питання, чи міг би «Нафтогаз» мати якусь дочірню компанію, яка займалася б купівлею газу напряму у «Газпрому», Вітренко сказав: «Міг би. Але немає таких контрактів, немає таких планів, немає таких переговорів, думок. Теоретично все можливо в світі, але практичних підстав для того, щоб це обговорювати, зараз немає».

«Можу тільки зазначити, що, з одного боку, у нас є зараз законодавчі можливості для прямих поставок з «Газпрому» і раніше були. Нічого не змінилося. Ми не купуємо газ напряму в «Газпрому» не тому, що українські політики ухвалили таке героїчне рішення не купувати газ в Росії, а тому, що Росія припинила поставки газу. І наше завдання як «Нафтогазу» і моєї команди було в тому, що в ситуації, коли ми розуміли, що росіяни припинять поставки газу, знайти альтернативні можливості забезпечити потреби українських споживачів в газі з Європи. От що ми робили», – заявив Вітренко. 

30 грудня 2019 року Національна акціонерна компанія «Нафтогаз України» і російський газовий монополіст «Газпром» підписали контракт про транзит російського газу до Європи з використанням української газотранспортної системи за правилами Європейського союзу на п’ятирічний термін із можливістю продовження. Термін раніше чинного контракту 2009 року на транзит, як і контракту на постачання російського газу до України, збіг вранці 1 січня 2020 року. Підписанню цього контракту передувало укладення між сторонами мирової угоди – договору про врегулювання претензій.
…

Libya’s rival governments committed to an internationally brokered truce that took effect Sunday, though immediate reports of violations by both sides raised concerns it might not stick.The truce, which was proposed by Russia and Turkey, could be the first break in fighting in months, and the first brokered by international players. It comes as Libya is on the brink of a major escalation, with foreign backers of the rival Libyan governments stepping up their involvement in the oil-rich nation’s conflict.It also comes amid a broader diplomatic push for a political solution to Libya’s war, which has crippled the country for more than seven years. The war has displaced hundreds of thousands and left more than a million in need of humanitarian aid, according to the United Nations.The United Nations and European powers, along with Libya’s allies in the region, have been calling for a peace summit to happen in Berlin early this year that would bring together the leaders of the rival governments, and possibly move the country closer to nationwide elections.But it’s proven difficult to stop fighting on the ground.The country’s U.N.-supported government said that it had recorded “violations” of the ceasefire minutes after it was supposed to take effect in the early hours of Sunday. The government did not specify what kind of violations in its written statement.Meanwhile, a general for the opposing east-based forces said that his lines had also been targeted by several missiles. Brig. Gen. Khaled al-Mahjoub, who is in charge of mobilizing the east-based forces, said that some battalions had been the subject of “random” incoming shells. He said that the attacks were not large enough to warrant a response.The Associated Press could not verify either of the sides’ claims, and as of midday Sunday that ceasefire appeared to be holding, if uneasily.The last time both sides paused the fighting was for a very brief period in August during a Muslim feast day. But this time, both sides declared they’d observe the truce, with the east-backed forces led by ex-general Khalifa Hifter joining the agreement shortly before midnight on Saturday.Libya is governed by dueling authorities, one based in the east and one in Tripoli in the west. Each rely on different militias for support. Both sides have different stipulations in order for the fighting to stop.Fayez Sarraj, who is prime minister of the U.N.-supported government in Tripoli, has previously demanded that Hifter’s forces retreat from the capital’s outskirts and halt their offensive against it. Hifter and his allies, meanwhile, have called for the dissolution of militias fighting for Sarraj inside Tripoli. The conditions of neither are likely to be met.Al-Mahjoub, who is in charge of mobilizing Hifter’s forces, ruled out any retreat from areas recently captured by their troops.”Withdrawal is not on the table,” Mahjoub told The Associated Press. He said that group’s fighters will remain on guard in their positions, and will respond to any significant breaches.Hifter’s east-based forces, the self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces, launched a fresh offensive to take the capital of Tripoli in April. The fighting sparked international efforts to try to contain the crisis in the North African nation.In the last month, Hifter’s forces have made significant advances. Earlier this week, they captured the strategic coastal city of Sirte, the hometown of Libya’s longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.Earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin released a joint statement after a meeting in Istanbul calling for a Jan. 12 truce. They did not specify what the conditions would be. Both Russia and Turkey have been accused of exacerbating the conflict in Libya by giving military aid to its warring parties.A U.N. peacekeeping mission welcomed the prospect of an end to the fighting. The United Nations Support Mission in Libya said in a statement that it hoped all parties would demonstrate “complete adherence” to its terms and stop the violence.Turkey’s Defense Ministry issued a statement on Sunday saying the situation in Libya was “calm except for one or two isolated incidents.”The east-based government, backed by Hifter’s forces, is supported by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, as well as France and Russia. The western, Tripoli-based government receives aid from Turkey, Qatar and Italy.The fighting has threatened to plunge Libya into violent chaos rivaling the 2011 conflict that ousted and killed Gadhafi. 
…

World leaders traveled Sunday to Oman to meet the country’s new sultan, named just a day earlier after the death of the nation’s longtime ruler Sultan Qaboos bin Said.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prince Charles were among those who arrived in Muscat to meet Oman’s new ruler, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said.Other leaders included Kuwait’s ruling emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, as well as Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and the president of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, also visited.Sultan Haitham was Oman’s culture minister before being named as the successor to Sultan Qaboos, the Middle East’s longest-ruling monarch whose death was announced Saturday. He died at the age of 79 after years of an undisclosed illness.Sultan Haitham, 66, has pledged to follow Sultan Qaboos’ example of promoting peace and dialogue in the Mideast. Oman has served as an interlocutor between Iran and the U.S., which are facing a level of unprecedented tensions. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif traveled to Muscat on Sunday as well to meet Sultan Haitham.Oman sits on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula. 
…

Fresh from a landslide reelection victory, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen met Sunday with the de facto U.S. ambassador to Taipei, as China warned that countries should stick with recognizing communist-ruled Beijing as the rightful government of “One China,” including Taiwan.William Brent Christensen, a U.S. diplomat who is director of the American Institute in Taiwan, congratulated Tsai on her victory and she thanked him for his support.“The Taiwan-U.S. partnership has already grown from a bilateral partnership to a global partnership. In the future, we will continue to build on the foundation we have created over the past three years to strengthen our cooperation on global issues,” Tsai said, according to a record of the remarks from the U.S. side.China considers self-governed Taiwan a part of its territory and opposes any official contact with the U.S. as an interference in its domestic affairs. The U.S. does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan but is legally bound to ensure that Taiwan can defend itself against threats.Travelers on a high speed train from Kaohsiung to Taipei read up on the post-election news near central Taiwan’s Taichung city, Jan. 12, 2020Pressure from ChinaTsai has sought closer relations with the U.S. while pushing back against pressure from China, and the Trump administration has reciprocated.Since separating from China during civil war in 1949, Taiwan has developed its own identity but never declared formal independence. Beijing still claims sovereignty over the island of 23 million people and threatens to use force to seize control if necessary.In her victory speech after her rival, Han Kuo-yu of the Nationalist Party, conceded defeat, Tsai urged China to resume talks with Taiwan without preconditions while warning against threatening use of force.“Today I want to once again remind the Beijing authorities that peace, parity, democracy and dialogue are the keys to stability,” Tsai said. “I want the Beijing authorities to know that democratic Taiwan and our democratically elected government will never concede to threats.”Setback for XiTsai’s victory is a setback for Chinese President Xi Jinping at a time when Beijing is grappling with an economic slowdown and long-running, sometimes violent anti-government demonstrations in Hong Kong.After election results were announced late Saturday, Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said China is willing to work with the Taiwanese people to advance the “peaceful reunification of the country.”But he cautioned that China would firmly protect its territorial integrity and opposes any separatist moves and Taiwan independence, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.“We hope and believe that the international community will continue adhering to the One China principle, understand and support the just cause of Chinese people to oppose the secessionist activities for ‘Taiwan independence’ and realize national reunification,” said a statement from Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang.Supporters of Taiwan’s 2020 presidential election candidate, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen cheer for Tsai’s victory in Taipei, Taiwan, Jan. 11, 2020.The scale of Tsai’s win is a loss of face for Xi and could raise sensitivity from Beijing toward moves to draw closer to Washington and to strengthen Taiwan’s sovereignty, the Eurasia Group said in an analysis.Opinion polls had showed Tsai leading before the election, but a huge turnout helped her claim more than 8 million votes. She got 57% of the vote to Han’s 39%. Her Democratic Progressive Party also managed to win in areas that often go to the China-friendly Nationalists in central and southern Taiwan. It retained its majority in the 113-seat Legislative Yuan, though the vote was closer there.Tsai has acknowledged that Beijing may well up its pressure on Taiwan following her victory. But she received a resounding public mandate for her rejection of China’s suggestion for a “one country, two systems” approach to governing Taiwan.
…

Libya’s east-based forces have announced that they will abide by a cease-fire brokered by Russia and Turkey that is to start Sunday.If it holds, the cease-fire would be the country’s first break in fighting in months, and the first brokered by international players. It comes as Libya is on the brink of a major escalation, with foreign backers of the rival Libyan governments stepping up their involvement on the ground.A spokesman for the self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces, which are led by ex-general Khalifa Hifter, said in a video statement that the cease-fire would take effect starting early Sunday. Spokesman Ahmed al-Mosmari said any violations of the cease-fire by their fighters would be dealt with “severely.”It was not immediately clear if Hifter would also agree to a withdrawal of forces from around the capital. His rival, Fayez Sarraj, who is prime minister of the U.N.-supported government in Tripoli, had demanded previously such a pull out as the truce’s condition. Libya is governed by dueling authorities, one based in the east and one in Tripoli in the west, led by Sarraj. Each rely on different militias for support.Hifter’s eastern-based forces launched a fresh offensive to take the capital in April, sparking international efforts to try to contain the crisis in the North African nation.FILE – Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hands with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, outside Moscow, Aug. 27, 2019.Earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin released a joint statement after a meeting in Istanbul calling for a Jan. 12 truce. They did not specify what the conditions would be.The calls for a cease-fire between the warring eastern and western Libyan forces came amid a flurry of diplomatic activity by European powers. The west-based government welcomed the calls for a stop to the fighting. A spokesman for Hifter’s forces said initially that they would continue their push to take the seat of their rivals, Tripoli, from “terrorist groups.”A U.N. peacekeeping body has welcomed the development. The United Nations Support Mission in Libya said in a statement that it hopes all parties will demonstrate “complete adherence” to the agreement to stop the violence. The United Nations and European powers, along with Libya’s allies in the region, have been calling for a peace summit in Berlin early this year that would bring together the leaders of the rival governments.The east-based government, backed by Hifter’s forces, is supported by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, as well as France and Russia. The western, Tripoli-based government receives aid from Turkey, Qatar and Italy.The fighting has threatened to plunge Libya into violent chaos rivaling the 2011 conflict that ousted and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.In the decade since Gadhafi’s death, the oil-rich nation has increasingly become a setting for proxy battles between regional players vying for influence in the Mediterranean region. Russia and Turkey, with their support of the eastern- and western-based Libyan governments, have become the latest additions.
 
…

In the face of mounting evidence, Iran acknowledged Saturday that it had shot down a Ukrainian jetliner by accident this week after it took off in Tehran, killing all 176 people aboard. Once Iran made the admission, after three days of denying it was responsible, the reaction came swiftly, from Iran and around the world. From Iran: General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ aerospace division, said his unit accepted full responsibility for the shootdown. In an address broadcast by state TV, he said that when he learned about the downing of the plane, “I wished I was dead.” Hajizadeh said the missile operator mistook the 737 for a cruise missile and didn’t obtain approval from his superiors because of disruptions in communications. “He had 10 seconds to decide. He could have decided to strike or not to strike and under such circumstances, he took the wrong decision,” Hajizadeh said. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, expressed his “deep sympathy” to the families of the victims and called on the armed forces to “pursue probable shortcomings and guilt in the painful incident.” President Hassan Rouhani acknowledged his country’s responsibility. “Iran is very much saddened by this catastrophic mistake and I, on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran, express my deep condolences to the families of victims of this painful catastrophe,” the president said. Rouhani added he had ordered “all relevant bodies to take all necessary actions [to ensure] compensation” to the families of those killed. A leader of Iran’s opposition Green Movement, Mehdi Karroubi, called on Khamenei to step down over the handling of the downed airliner. FILE – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, right, leads a meeting of the emergency response team on the crash of the Ukraine International Airlines plane in Iran, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 9, 2020.From Ukraine: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked the U.S, Britain, Canada and others for information about the crash. He said it “undoubtedly helped” push Iran to acknowledge its responsibility. Zelenskiy said the crash investigation should continue and the “perpetrators” should be brought to justice. “It’s absolutely irresponsible,” Ukraine International Airlines Vice President Ihor Sosnovskiy told reporters. “There must be protection around ordinary people. If they are shooting somewhere from somewhere, they are obliged to close the airport.” From Canada: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau demanded Iran provide “full clarity” on the downing of the plane, which Ottawa said had 57 Canadian citizens aboard. FILE – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a news conference, Jan. 9, 2020, in Ottawa, Ontario.”What Iran has admitted to is very serious. Shooting down a civilian aircraft is horrific. Iran must take full responsibility,” Trudeau told a news conference in Ottawa. “Canada will not rest until we get the accountability, justice and closure that the families deserve.” Foreign governments condemned the downing of the plane, with Ukraine demanding compensation. Canada, Ukraine and Britain, however, called Tehran’s admission an important first step. The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and Reuters contributed to this report. 
…

In a defining week for President Donald Trump on the world stage, national security adviser Robert O’Brien was a constant presence at the president’s side as the U.S. edged to the brink of war with Iran and back again.The contrasts with O’Brien’s predecessor along the way — in secret consultations at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, in the Oval Office and in basement deliberations in the White House Situation Room — could not have been more stark.While former national security adviser John Bolton spent decades as a conservative iconoclast in the public arena, O’Brien is far from a household name. While Bolton had strong opinions he shared loudly in the Oval Office, O’Brien has worked to establish an amiable relationship with Trump.And while Bolton’s trademark mustache was a target of Trump’s mockery, the president is drawn to O’Brien’s low-key California vibe and style.“Right out of central casting,” Trump says of O’Brien.FILE – President Donald Trump and Robert O’Brien, the new national security adviser, board Air Force One at Los Angeles International Airport, Sept. 18, 2019, in Los Angeles.Rapport with TrumpFor all the differences between the two men, though, O’Brien ended up signing off on the same course of action that Bolton had long endorsed: a strike to take out Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani. The decision drew retaliatory missile strikes from Tehran.The way that O’Brien steered the Trump White House through the process endeared himself to the president and widened his rapidly growing influence in the West Wing.“He’s a deal guy and the president’s a deal guy,” said Jared Kushner, a senior White House adviser. “A lot of people inside the foreign policy establishment are good at explaining why things are wrong but are petrified to put things in play and take calculated risks.”The Iran drama was set in motion when Trump summoned O’Brien from Los Angeles to the president’s Palm Beach spread, where Trump was spending a two-week winter holiday. While other top aides, including Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, consulted with the president from afar, Trump wanted O’Brien at his side.“Robert was calm, cool and collected, constantly keeping the president updated,” Kushner said.More than a half-dozen current and former administration officials and Republicans close to the White House contributed to this account. Many spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.Rise of a new voiceTrump has long been known for tuning out old voices in favor of new ones, but O’Brien’s rise in the president’s inner circle has been rapid. The 53-year-old O’Brien, who has handled scores of complex international litigation, has a corner office on the first floor of the White House, a few steps from the Oval Office.A sharp-dressing Republican lawyer who worked in the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, O’Brien was appointed by Trump in May 2018 to be the nation’s top hostage negotiator. He successfully worked for the release of several Americans, including pastor Andrew Brunson, who spent two years in a Turkish prison. O’Brien also traveled to Sweden to lobby for the release of rapper A$AP Rocky, imprisoned on an assault charge.Bolton, Trump’s third national security adviser, fell out of favor with the president after a series of sharp disagreements, including over North Korea and Iran policies. He was forced out in September. Trump’s previous national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, never developed a personal rapport with the president, who tuned out on McMaster’s long-winded briefing style.Bolton had frequently tussled with Pompeo and Defense Department officials and, at times, frustrated the president with his sharp clashes and bureaucratic knife-fighting.FILE – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, back left, and National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien head to the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, Nov. 25, 2019.Honest, collaborativeO’Brien, in contrast, makes it a point to collaborate with the State Department and the Pentagon. People familiar with his work style describe an honest broker who is diplomatic but direct. He is known to present the views of Pompeo and top defense and intelligence officials to the president as he would brief a legal client.Colleagues say he doesn’t try to push his own foreign policy ideas on the president and is more deferential to the views from other agencies than was Bolton. He has a plaque on his desk that says, “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.” It’s a replica of the one President Ronald Reagan kept on his desk in the Oval Office.Administration officials, at least for now, point to a new camaraderie in the latest incarnation of Trump’s national security team: Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper were West Point classmates; Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has grown close to Trump; and O’Brien, unlike Bolton, has not tried to pull an end run around others in the decision-making process.“I think he’s very comfortable with the idea of the job as a staff job, which I think is the model,” said former Sen. Jim Talent, a Missouri Republican who met O’Brien more than a decade ago when they were advising Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign. “Obviously when the president asks for his advice, he gives his personal opinion.”FILE – Then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis speaks beside President Donald Trump during a briefing in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington, Oct. 23, 2018.Critics see ‘yes’ men without gravitasWhere Republicans see as collegial team, some Democratic critics worry that Trump is surrounding himself with advisers too eager to accede to his views.New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the administration’s national security team seems to lack “discerning voices.”Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., lamented this past week that Trump’s current team lacked the gravitas of earlier advisers, including former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and McMaster, both retired generals.“People like Mattis and McMaster, who disagree with the president because he’s so erratic, leave — leaving a bunch of ‘yes’ people, who seem to want to do whatever the president wants,” Schumer said recently on the Senate floor.After the drone strike on Soleimani, there was a deliberate effort to give the Iranians some space to react without committing the U.S. to a military response. Even as Trump delivered fire and brimstone warnings, the rest of his national security team gave indications that not every Iranian response would send American missiles flying. When Tehran’s rockets left no casualties in attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq, the crisis abated, at least for the moment.While former advisers such as Mattis and McMaster, attempted to check some of the president’s impulses, O’Brien has been regarded as enabling some of Trump’s high-risk inclinations.O’Brien’s style has been to offer pros and cons before ultimately agreeing with Trump’s decisions, including the moves to abruptly withdraw U.S. troops from Kurdish-held territory in Syria and the military raid that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.O’Brien has established good relationships at the White House and on Capitol Hill, said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.“Every time I talk to the president about him — and his name comes up a fair amount when the president and I are talking — the president just always speaks glowingly about him,” said the Utah senator. He added that O’Brien “has a client. He doesn’t have his own agenda that he’s pursuing.”
…