WSJ: 'Friends and associates said few U.S. citizens are closer to Mr. Putin than Mr. Tillerson':
It is as if Trump was smacking us in the face with a Putin pick for Sec. of State.!!! this is few days old but good background infor if interested.
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'Friends and associates said few U.S. citizens are closer to Mr. Putin than Mr. Tillerson':
Rex Tillerson, a Candidate for Secretary of State, Has Ties to Vladimir Putin
Exxon Mobil CEO could redefine U.S. interests abroad
ExxonMobil Chief Executive Rex Tillerson, seen in this May 2014 photo, is a late entrant to President-elect Donald Trump’s wide-ranging search for a secretary of state. ENLARGE
By Bradley Olson
Updated Dec. 6, 2016 11:02 a.m. ET
95 COMMENTS
Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief Executive Rex Tillerson, who was meeting with Donald Trump on Tuesday to discuss becoming his secretary of state, is a seasoned deal-maker whose close ties to Vladimir Putin and other world leaders could redefine American interests abroad.
His emergence as a candidate to be the nation’s top diplomat despite having no government experience surprised senior Exxon officials—including Mr. Tillerson, according to people familiar with the matter.
Friends of the 64-year-old Texas oilman, whom they describe as a staunch conservative, said they expect he would consider the job due to his sense of patriotic duty and because he is set to retire from the company next year. The meeting was taking place Tuesday morning at Trump Tower in New York, according to a transition official.
His appointment would introduce the potential for sticky conflicts of interest because of his financial stake in Exxon, which explores for oil and gas on six of the world’s seven continents and has operations in more than 50 countries. He owns Exxon shares worth $151 million, according a recent securities filing...................
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Exxon Mobil CEO could redefine U.S. interests abroad
By Bradley Olson
bradley.olson@wsj.com
http://twitter.com/bradnews
Updated Dec. 6, 2016 11:02 a.m. ET
Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief Executive Rex Tillerson, who was meeting with Donald Trump on Tuesday to discuss becoming his secretary of state, is a seasoned deal-maker whose close ties to Vladimir Putin and other world leaders could redefine American interests abroad.
....
Friends and associates said few U.S. citizens are closer to Mr. Putin than Mr. Tillerson, who has known Mr. Putin since he represented Exxon’s interests in Russia during the regime of Boris Yeltsin. ... “He has had more interactive time with Vladimir Putin than probably any other American with the exception of Henry Kissinger,” said John Hamre, a former deputy defense secretary during the Clinton administration and president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank where Mr. Tillerson is a board member.
In 2011, Mr. Tillerson struck a deal giving Exxon access to prized Arctic resources in Russia as well as allowing Russia’s state oil company, OAO Rosneft, to invest in Exxon concessions all over the world. The following year, the Kremlin bestowed the country’s Order of Friendship decoration on Mr. Tillerson. ... The deal would have been transformative for Exxon. Mr. Putin at the time called it one of the most important involving Russia and the U.S., forecasting that the partnership could eventually spend $500 billion. But it was subsequently blocked by sanctions on Russia that the U.S. and its allies imposed two years ago after the country’s invasion of Crimea and conflicts with Ukraine.
Mr. Tillerson spoke against the sanctions at the company’s annual meeting in 2014. “We always encourage the people who are making those decisions to consider the very broad collateral damage of who are they really harming with sanctions,” he said. ... One of the first issues Mr. Tillerson would have to resolve as secretary of state would be his holdings of Exxon shares, many of which aren’t scheduled to vest for almost a decade. The value of those shares could go up if the sanctions on Russia were lifted.
....
Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson with Vladimir Putin, then Russia’s prime minister, at a signing ceremony in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in August 2011. A deal between Exxon and Russia's state oil company Rosneft was later blocked by global sanctions on Russia over Moscow’s invasion of Crimea. Photo: RIA Novosti/Reuters
I wish I could have posted this in LBN, but TWSJ. put the story online nearly 24 hours ago. I was not aware of this until I picked up today's TWSJ. The story in on page A4 of the print edition.
November 8, 2016 - "a date which* shall live in infamy."
* Yes, despite the Groton and Harvard education, Roosevelt said "which," not "that."
