Rex Tillerson

[RTH10260]

another thread in the gallery of heads

American Diplomats’ Comfort With Tillerson Gives Way to Unease
by Nick Wadhams
March 10, 2017, 11:00 AM GMT+1 March 10, 2017, 4:10 PM GMT+1
Top U.S. diplomat said to favor budget cuts, narrower mission
‘He has to win Trump’s confidence,’ former Tillerson aide says

U.S. diplomats breathed a sigh of relief three months ago when Rex Tillerson was nominated as secretary of state, welcoming the oilman as a seasoned manager who would shield them from ideologues ready to gut America’s foreign policy machinery.

Yet that comfort is now giving way to unease, as the former Exxon Mobil Corp. chief embraces President Donald Trump’s vision.

Tillerson supports the president’s goal to cut the State Department budget and shift its mission away from existing initiatives such as climate change, global health and development assistance beyond key allies, according to half a dozen people familiar with his thinking who requested anonymity to discuss internal matters.

“The issue isn’t a lack of resources, it’s how do we refocus the department on its core priorities, and this is a way of getting at that,” said Brett Schaefer, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation who has advocated a restructuring of the department but says he isn’t advising Tillerson. “It’s sort of a pressure exercise to force the people inside State and at USAID to rethink how budgets have been allocated and focus on critical priorities.”

Slimmed-Down Department

That doesn’t mean Tillerson will rubber stamp the Office of Management and Budget’s proposal to slash 37 percent of the combined $50 billion budget for the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to free up money for the military, but he supports the sentiment behind it, the people said.

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/arti ... e-overhaul

[RTH10260]

Rex Tillerson is afraid of the media
By Callum Borchers March 10 at 8:30 AM

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will travel to China, Japan and South Korea next week for what would ordinarily be viewed as an early-term showcase of the United States' top diplomat in action. Instead, the trip looks more like an effort to run away and hide.

Tillerson plans to leave the U.S. media behind, a break from precedent that has news outlets up in arms. Editors from The Washington Post, New York Times, Associated Press, NPR, BBC and CNN are among those who have signed a letter to the State Department, saying they are "deeply concerned" about the decision and requesting a meeting to discuss press access in general. Here's an excerpt:

Not only does this situation leave the public narrative of the meetings up to the Chinese foreign ministry as well as Korea’s and Japan’s, but it gives the American people no window whatsoever into the views and actions of the nation’s leaders. And the offer to help those reporters who want to travel unilaterally is wholly unrealistic, given the commercial flight schedules, visa issues and no guarantee of access once they are there.

But the issues go beyond just the March 14-19 trip and affect the day-to-day coverage of the nation’s top diplomat and U.S. relations with the rest of the world

.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the ... the-media/

[RTH10260]

Rex Tillerson Might Be the Weakest Secretary of State Ever
There are five avenues to power at Foggy Bottom, and they’re all blocked to the current man in charge.
BY ROBERT JERVISMARCH 10, 2017

While much of America’s political class is transfixed by the debate about connections between Russia and the White House, a quieter but perhaps more consequential drama is playing out at Foggy Bottom. It concerns the startling diminution of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and perhaps the entire department that he heads. Normally the most important position in the cabinet, the secretary of state has had little impact on the Trump administration so far. And, if anything, his role appears headed for further decline.

The secretary of state draws his or her power less from the U.S. Constitution or the laws than from five sources: backing from the president, advice and support from his or her department’s career officials, admiration from and alliances with other leaders in the government, praise from the press and public, and positive evaluations of his or her competence and power by foreign diplomats. These individuals and groups do not act independently but rather depend on each other and interact to build up or tear down the secretary’s power. Perceptions and reality blend as to be seen as powerful or weak, and that can readily become self-fulfilling in the Washington echo chamber.

These dynamics have worked against Tillerson until now. And though he still has some time to reverse them, he does not have much.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/10/rex ... tate-ever/

[RTH10260]

REX TILLERSON COULD BE AMERICA’S MOST DANGEROUS SECRETARY OF STATE
BY ANTONIA JUHASZ
The former Exxon Mobil CEO spent his entire adult life working for a company that has left a trail of carnage—from human rights abuses to the destruction of the environment—in its ruthless pursuit of oil.

JANUARY 9, 2017 | FEBRUARY ISSUE

ON JANUARY 1, REX TILLERSON RETIRED FROM OIL GIANT EXXON MOBIL after 41 years, the last 10 as CEO and chairman of the board. When he appears in January before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee to be considered for U.S. Secretary of State, Exxon Mobil will be preparing to appear before a jury at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, just blocks away. There, the company will face allegations that security forces under its employ engaged in serious human rights abuses, including murder, torture, sexual violence, kidnapping, battery, assault, burning, arbitrary arrest, detention and false imprisonment. The complaint specifically names Rex Tillerson.

http://inthesetimes.com/features/rex_ti ... state.html

[RTH10260]

Journalists Frustrated By Rex Tillerson’s Plan To Travel Abroad Without Them
CNN’s Jake Tapper called the decision “unusual” and “insulting.”

By Michael Calderone

As of now, when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson travels to Asia next week, the press won’t be along for the ride.

The secretary’s recently reported plans not to travel with journalists are a break with precedent, and come amid growing concerns over access at the State Department, which only started holding press briefings this week. Tillerson himself has yet to give an interview since taking the helm.

In a Tuesday letter to State Department officials, top editors and bureau chiefs said they were “deeply concerned” that Tillerson “plans to travel to Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo to hold key meetings about some of the most important foreign policy issues for the United States without any traveling press.”

The letter, published Thursday by Poynter, was signed by representatives from major networks like CNN and Fox News and publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal. The group requested a meeting with State Department officials.

Though news organizations will still be able to cover Tillerson’s Asia trip, it’s unlikely journalists could do so in as comprehensive a way while traveling separately, given commercial flight schedules and visa issues.

When asked Thursday about Tillerson’s decision not to bring along the press, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said it was the first he’d heard of the plan and deferred to the State Department.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rex ... 71826afef9

also:
https://www.poynter.org/2017/bureau-chi ... ip/451812/

[TexasFilly]

I am beyond perturbed that this asshole is flying around the world on my (and your) dime(s) and there is no accountability whatsoever. I cannot help but conclude that this is because he is doing things he doesn't want We The People to know about. The press should be all over Chaffetz demanding an investigation.

[Skip Intro]

I am beyond perturbed that this asshole is flying around the world on my (and your) dime(s) and there is no accountability whatsoever. I cannot help but conclude that this is because he is doing things he doesn't want We The People to know about. The press should be all over Chaffetz demanding an investigation.

Now that's funny.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Somebody should start a count of the number of times one dept says they are unaware of what another dept is doing.
Spicer doesn't know what Tillerson is doing. Tillerson didn't know the Mexican envoy was in the US. Trump doesn't know.....well, pretty much anything.

[SueDB]

Pretty soon they will have big meetings where the US rep is in the foreign capitol and the foreign rep is in the US capitol. Then they will both be pissed cause there was no one there to meet them.

[Chilidog]

Trump must have Tillerson's balls in his pocket.

WASHINGTON — When President Trump called President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines on Saturday, the American leader’s national security aides saw it as part of a routine diplomatic outreach to Southeast Asian leaders. Mr. Trump, characteristically, had his own ideas.

During their “very friendly conversation,” the administration said in a late-night statement, Mr. Trump invited Mr. Duterte, an authoritarian leader accused of ordering extrajudicial killings of drug suspects in the Philippines, to visit him at the White House.

Now, administration officials are bracing for an avalanche of criticism from human rights groups. Two officials said they expected the State Department and the National Security Council, both of which were caught off guard by the invitation, to raise objections internally.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/30/us/p ... .html?_r=1

I can't think of a single Secretary of State over the past three or four decades that would have put up with the abuse that Trump is heaping on old T.Rex.

[Lani]

Trump's just looking for tips from Duerte on dealing with the opioid epidemic. Duerte has been successful in reducing the number of drug users, addicts, potential users, sellers, and friends and families of those people. Added bonus, reduction in street children, petty criminals, and anyone else he doesn't like.

And while Trump bragged that he could kill someone without consequences, Duerte has personally killed at least 3 people, so he can provide some pro tips!

Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now, there are three million drug addicts. I’d be happy to slaughter them. If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have (me).
― Rodrigo Duterte, September 30, 2016

https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/03/01/l ... -war-drugs

[Chilidog]

If Dutarte does visit the White House, I hope that there will be sizable protests outside

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

If Dutarte does visit the White House, I hope that there will be sizable protests outside

[HilltownGrrl]

I'd be rather surprised if the visit was at the White House. Mar a Lago (stupid spelling trips me up every time) seems more likely since there's more $$$ to be made there.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

DO NOT READ BEFORE GOING TO BED. YOU WILL NOT SLEEP.
https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/525567/

On May 3rd Secretary of State Rex Tillerson gave his first big speech about American foreign policy to the employees of the Department of State. In so doing, he gave those who think that American diplomacy matters more reason to worry.

He repeatedly invoked, approvingly, the phrase “America First.”...Tillerson explained “America First” this way. It applies to “national security and economic prosperity, and that doesn’t mean it comes at the expense of others.” This defies common sense. Surely, if we’re first, someone else is second, third, and finally last. Tillerson made it clear that he believes in American freedoms for the United States, and acknowledged that they have some role in shaping American policies, but then walked that notion back in his most disturbing sentence: “We really have to understand, in each country or region of the world that we’re dealing with, what are our national security interests, what are our economic prosperity interests, and then as we can advocate and advance our values, we should” (emphasis added).

Tillerson continued his remarks with a tour d’horizon, a description of America’s position around the world. He spoke primarily about North Korea, China, Russia, and ISIS. He barely mentioned our relationships with the liberal democracies who form the bedrock of America’s alliances save to complain about European NATO members not paying their fair share. The main question is whom we can make deals with, and whom we cannot. He referred to Saudi Arabia; he omitted Great Britain, Germany, and France, whose soldiers have fought and died alongside ours in Afghanistan.

[RTH10260]

DO NOT READ BEFORE GOING TO BED. YOU WILL NOT SLEEP.
https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/525567/

but then walked that notion back in his most disturbing sentence: “We really have to understand, in each country or region of the world that we’re dealing with, what are our national security interests, what are our economic prosperity interests, and then as we can advocate and advance our values, we should” .

And to understand all those international interests, either the US abroad or the partners local ones best, to begin with Trump just dumped the most knowlegable staff they had in the department and at their embassies....

[Volkonski]

Tillerson: 'I would have no way to know' if Russians bugged Oval Office

http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... val-office

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged on Wednesday that he would have "no way to know" if the Russian government had bugged the Oval Office during President Trump's meeting with Russia's foreign minister and ambassador last week.

"I would have no way to know that," Tillerson said when asked by NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell about the possibility of Kremlin surveillance of the meeting.

Tillerson's response followed Russian President Vladimir Putin's offer earlier Wednesday to provide to members of Congress a transcript of Trump's meeting with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.



Putin's offer raises questions of whether the Kremlin actually has a transcript of the meeting and, if so, how it might have obtained it.

Don't our intelligence services have ways to detect bugs?

[RVInit]

I doubt Trump would allow American intelligence into the Oval Office. They, along with the press, are the enemy.

[Addie]

USA Today

The incredible shrinking Rex Tillerson: Can the secretary of State reclaim his job?

His travails flow from many factors, among them White House leaks and humiliations. Will he ever confront Trump and assume a leadership role?

Defending his boss recently against charges that he’s heading up an incredible shrinking State Department, strategic adviser R.C. Hammond opined that the Secretary Rex Tillerson is thinking like a cowboy. Comparing words to bullets, he said “You carry a revolver with only six shots, and you don’t waste your bullets.”

Fair enough. Successful secretaries of State husband their resources and invest in issues that are strategic and strike at the right time. But five months in, and based on our long tenures at the State Department under both Republican and Democratic administrations, it seems pretty clear that at least in five cases, Tillerson’s gun jammed or the rounds he fired went wide of their mark. Presumably he has yet to use the sixth bullet — a frank conversation with the president about his presumed aspirations to be a consequential secretary of State. Will he?

Tillerson reportedly is at the boiling point over everything from leaks to personnel. When it comes to his core diplomatic mission, he is struggling for leverage or even a role on several key foreign policy issues confronting the nation.

[Dan1100]

I have to wonder at what point he says to himself, "I'm 65 years old, richer than God, and I've busted my ass my whole life to get where I am. I don't have to put up with this shit from these lying weasels." Then he quits and issues a statement that says, "I'm 65 years old, richer than God, and I've busted my ass my whole life to get where I am. I don't have to put up with this shit from these lying weasels."

[TollandRCR]

Wonderful should he do that. Trump obviously wants to manage foreign policy himself. Should be be gone when Trump bombs North Korea into greenglass, he would not have to go to sleep into guilt every night.

[Notorial Dissent]

For somebody that rich to be so clueless and naive is just amazing. He still hasn't figured out that he is not ONLY JUST window dressing, but IMPOTENT window dressing at that. LaRump wants to run EVERYTHING, and can't run anything, and Rexy is sitting in the kiddy seat with the pretend steering wheel.

[RTH10260]

USA Today

The incredible shrinking Rex Tillerson: Can the secretary of State reclaim his job?


Tillerson reportedly is at the boiling point over everything from leaks to personnel. When it comes to his core diplomatic mission, he is struggling for leverage or even a role on several key foreign policy issues confronting the nation.

Maybe he should have disagreed with Teh Donald prior to Jan 20. 2017, high noon, and prevented the erasure of the State Department brain trust and the embassadors.

[Suranis]

If he actually made that statement it would be the only consequential thing he would have ever done in his job.

[Addie]

Reuters

U.S. fines Exxon Mobil over Ukraine-related sanctions violations

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday announced a civil penalty against Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) and its U.S. subsidiaries for violating sanctions regulations related to Ukraine in May 2014, fining the global oil company $2 million.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) found ExxonMobil had not voluntarily self-disclosed the violations, "and that the violations constitute an egregious case," it said in a statement posted online.

The heads of the company's U.S. subsidiaries dealt with someone "whose property and interests in property were blocked, namely, by signing eight legal documents related to oil and gas projects in Russia with Igor Sechin, the President of Rosneft OAO" and another sanctioned individual, Treasury said.