Trump Either Cannot See the Differences in Values Between the U.S. and Russia Or He Doesn't Care

Donald Trump: meet Bill Browder.It is unlikely but possible that the president does not know about the history of this American businessman who invested in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, succeeded amazingly but then ran afoul of the Stalinesque barbarity of the current Russian autocracy.If he does know about Browder and his experience in Russia, Trump's bizarre admiration for Vladimir Putin is all the more farcical -- especially given the undoubted intervention of Putin's government in the 2016 election.But let's accept that Trump may have only limited knowledge of what happened to Browder, Hermitage Capital Management (his investment firm) and his Moscow lawyer, the late, murdered, Sergei Magnitsky.If that's the case, the president needs to read Browder's riveting account of his dealings with Putin's Russia: "Red Notice; A True Story of High Finance, Murder and One Man's Fight for Justice."Then Trump should begin to understand the stark difference between American values and Russian preference for order, America's respect for the rule of law and Russia' centuries-long addiction to authoritarianism, America's time-honored freedom of the press and Russia's repression of free speech.  Continue reading...