MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th September, 2018) US President Donald Trump is unlikely to fulfill the promises he made during the 2016 presidential campaign, regarding Syria and Russia, because he is surrounded by the so-called deep state opposing his intentions, Richard Black, a Republican member of the Virginia State Senate, told Sputnik.
According to Black, the deep state includes members of the US State and Defense departments, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a number of key members of the US Senate.
"They encourage wars against different places, so I'm doubtful at this point that President Trump will be able by the force of will to control the deep state. They have immense power; they have limitless money whether it comes from the US Treasury, Saudi Arabia or other places," Black said in an interview.
The US state senator noted that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, appointed by Trump soon after his inauguration, was opting for peace and decreased tensions with Russia, however, he was displaced by the deep state.
"They were terrified Michael Flynn might remain the national security adviser. For this reason they ousted him and successively put in bellicose people like [incumbent US National Security Adviser] John Bolton and they probably could not find a greater advocate of war than John Bolton. So at this point I think it is quite questionable if the president will be capable of changing and shifting American policy," Black added.
The Virginia state senator also said that he wished Trump would fulfill his campaign pledges about working with Syrian President Bashar Assad and restoring dialogue with Moscow.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised to fix Washington's relations with Moscow and repeatedly said that he wanted to cooperate with Russia, especially in its fight against the Islamic State terrorist group (outlawed in Russia). Trump has also said that the United States should stop trying to overthrow Assad and instead start looking for a diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis.
