US President-elect Donald Trump has proven that he is less likely to engage in military confrontations with other countries such as Russia, but radical advisers may “reshape” his agenda, says an analyst in New York.
James Petras, an author and political commentator, made the remarks following Senator John McCain’s warnings to Trump against trusting Russia’s call for better ties.
Speaking after the first phone conversation between Trump and Putin, McCain said Tuesday that the Russian head of state was not to be trusted.
“With the US presidential transition underway, Vladimir Putin has said in recent days that he wants to improve relations with the United States,” the Republican senator of Arizona said in a statement.
McCain’s comments were aimed at preventing Trump from following one of his most important campaign pledges, which included cooperation with Russia to solve mutual differences between the two sides.
At least that was what the Republican president-elect discussed with Putin during their phone call on Monday, according to Moscow.
Petras said Trump’s policies with regards to Moscow were the opposite of what his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton wanted.
“I think it is a step away from a nuclear confrontation that was on the Clinton agenda,” said Petras.
According to a statement released by the Kremlin, America’s 45th president discussed with his Russian counterpart the importance of “normalizing” ties between Moscow and Washington.
Both Putin and Trump had acknowledged "the extremely unsatisfactory state of Russian-US relations at present" and "declared the need for active joint work to normalize them."
“I think it is very likely that despite the reactionary composition of Trump’s cabinet and Congress, at least we won’t have a war over Syria” and Ukraine, Petras added.
“I think the Trump election looks to be a step toward peace rather than war,” he argued. “Now this is very subject to the pressures and the reactionary content of his cabinet.”
“So one can never trust the initial prognoses of Trump. It maybe that his advisers on the extreme right will reshape his political agenda,” the analyst concluded.