NOT QUITE WHAT WE'VE BEEN TOLD – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:   For months we've been sent the message that President Trump is literally in bed with Vladimir Putin, that there's something going on, that Putin has something on Trump, that Moscow was about to become capital of Trump's America, that American kids would be served vodka in schools. 

Not so fast.  From Powerline: 

Lost in all the fake news about President Trump’s alleged affinity for Russia is the real news that he has tapped a harsh critic of Vladimir Putin to be the White House senior director for Russia and Europe. The Putin-critic he reportedly has selected is Fiona Hill, a former intelligence officer now with the Brookings Institution.

Hill was on the National Intelligence Council from 2006-09, serving under Presidents Bush and Obama. She has argued in favor of keeping sanctions in place on Russia in response to Moscow’s aggression in Crimea and Ukraine. In addition, she has argued that Putin’s desire for a “weakened U.S. presidency” is behind his meddling in the 2016 president election. If so, as I have suggested, it’s looking like a case of “mission accomplished.”

Hill is more than just a conventional critic of Putin. She is the co-author of Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin. According to The New Yorker, the book describes Putin’s system as a “protection racket” in which he views himself as the “CEO of Russia, Inc.,” and is served by “crony oligarchs.” “In reality,” Hill writes, “his leadership style is more like that of a mafia family Don.”

The selection of Hill has been praised by liberals who have expressed what I assume are good faith concerns about what the Trump administration’s Russia policy will end up being. For example, Michael McFaul, U.S. ambassador to Russia under President Obama called it a “great hire,” adding that “Fiona is both a first-class scholar and an experienced former government official.”

COMMENT:  Hill is not exactly a Kremlin lover, not the kind a Kremlin lover would appoint.  I wonder what the anti-Trump will say about this.  Never mind.  They might not even notice.

March 6, 2017