In a move that is certain to infuriate those who see Trump as nothing more than a puppet of the Kremlin, moments ago NBC reported that Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil and late entrant into the SecState race after his first meeting with the president elect this past Tuesday at the Trump Tower, has been picked by Trump to serve as his next Secretary of State.
JUST IN: Trump to name Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, sources say https://t.co/kthwSkGc0j pic.twitter.com/vZmWztv0qn
— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 10, 2016
As NBC adds, Tillerson met Saturday with Trump at Trump Tower in New York, the president-elect’s spokesperson confirmed. The selection of Tillerson comes after Trump and his transition team spent weeks searching for someone to fill the post of the top U.S. diplomat. Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani were reportedly in the running. Giuliani said Friday he had taken his name out of consideration.
The 64-year-old Texas oilman, whose friends describe as a staunch conservative, emerged as a Secretary of State contender only last week following a meeting with Trump, when it was speculated that he would consider the offer “due to his sense of patriotic duty and because he is set to retire from the company next year.” Tillerson’s appointment would introduce the potential for sticky conflicts of interest because of his financial stake in Exxon: he owns Exxon shares worth $151 million, according to recent securities filings.
A quick biographical sketch of Tillerson courtesy of the WSJ:
The son of a local Boy Scouts administrator, Tillerson was born in Wichita Falls, Texas. He attended the University of Texas, where he studied civil engineering, was a drummer in the Longhorn band and participated in a community service-oriented fraternity.
He joined Exxon in 1975 and has spent his entire career at the company.
For most of his adult life, he has also been closely involved with the Boy Scouts of America, even occasionally incorporating the Scout Law and Scout Oath into his speeches. Mr. Tillerson played an instrumental role in leading the organization to change its policy to allow gay youth to participate in 2013, Mr. Hamre said. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates subsequently moved to lift the organization’s ban on gay adult leaders as Boy Scouts president in 2015. “Most of the reason that organizations fail at change is pretty simple: People don’t understand why,” Mr. Tillerson said in a speech after the 2013 decision, urging leaders to communicate about the policy to help make it successful. “We’re going to serve kids and make the leaders of tomorrow.”
* * *
However it is not his Boy Scout exploits that will be the key talking point for pundits in the coming days, but rather his close relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
According to the WSJ, few U.S. citizens are closer to Mr. Putin than Mr. Tillerson, a recipient of Russia’s Order of Friendship, bestowed by the president…
… who has known 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.
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.
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.
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.
As such, many have speculated that under his regime, the State Department may quietly drop any existing sactions against Russia.
* * *
Then there is the thorny issue of potential conflicts of interest, and his massive holdings of Exxon stock.
One of the first issues 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.
The shares would likely have to be sold under State Department ethics rules, Chase Untermeyer, a former U.S. Ambassador to Qatar, said in an interview. “He could not erase his strong relationship with a particular country,” Mr. Untermeyer said. “The best protection from a conflict of interest is transparency.”
Tillerson will sell his $150+ million in XOM shares tax free, courtesy of the same tax break that was introduced in 1989 under the administration of President George H.W. Bush, which allowed Hank Paulson, Colin Powell and plenty of other public servants to dispose of their equity holdings without paying taxes: to get the tax relief, it must be deemed “reasonably necessary” for a public official to divest his shares, or a congressional committee must require the asset sale, according to section 1043 of the tax code, something which is virtually assured in the case of Tillerson.
* * *
Finally, the environmentalists will certainly be displeased with Trump’s choice, even thought Tillerson helped shift Exxon’s response to climate change when he took over as CEO in 2006. He embraced a carbon tax as the best potential policy solution and has said climate change is a global problem that warrants action. That was a break from his predecessor, Lee Raymond.
Still, Mr. Tillerson is a polarizing figure among Democrats and environmental activists. They have accused Exxon of sowing doubt about the impacts of climate change during Mr. Raymond’s tenure and say Mr. Tillerson hasn’t done enough to disclose the future impact of climate-change regulations on the company’s ability to get oil out of the ground.
“This is certainly a good way to make clear exactly who’ll be running the government in a Trump administration—just cut out the middleman and hand it directly to the fossil-fuel industry,” said Bill McKibben, the environmental activist and founder of 350.org.
Exxon has disputed the criticism and accused activists and Democratic attorneys general of conspiring against the company.
The son of a local Boy Scouts administrator, Mr. Tillerson was born in Wichita Falls, Texas. He attended the University of Texas, where he studied civil engineering, was a drummer in the Longhorn band and participated in a community service-oriented fraternity.
As secretary of state, Tillerson would be fourth in line to the presidency.
No matter how US diplomacy plays out under Tillerson, however, one thing is certain: at least Mitt Romney will not be setting US foreign policy for the next four years. This particular ritual humiliation has now been duly completed…
REPORT: Mitt Romney May Be Forced to Publicly Apologize to Trump in Exchange For Sec of State Bid https://t.co/0qvuEsaDX1 pic.twitter.com/HBj6RqRVB7
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) November 25, 2016
Finally, as NBC also adds, Tillerson’s deputy secretary of state for day-to-day management of the department will be former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton.
To summarize: a cabinet run by Wall Street and big oil (with a neocon backstop), and a handful of veteran generals thrown in. The writing should be on the wall as to what comes next.
Midnight Oil on Sun, 11th Dec 2016 4:32 pm
Well, at least we need not be concerned about global warming now we have the deck of players in positions of public policy that seem to feel BAU on steriods is our only option
onlooker on Sun, 11th Dec 2016 4:35 pm
Yep peak oil vs climate change is no contest. Peakoil wins in a knockout.
Anonymous on Sun, 11th Dec 2016 5:23 pm
More garbage from zeroIQ
” But it was subsequently blocked by sanctions on Russia that the U.S. and its allies(puppets) imposed two years ago after the country’s invasion of Crimea and conflicts with Ukraine.”
The first, never occurred, a fact, easily verifiable by anyone with even minimal command of their faculties. The ‘conflicts’ with Ukraine? No need to rehash just who was, is, behind that mess.
amerikans love their idiotic(and false) narratives….
JuanP on Sun, 11th Dec 2016 5:55 pm
Could this motherfucker be a worse Secretary of State than Hillary, Kerry, Rice, Power, or any of the last 20 ones? I doubt it! Even if he tried with all his might to be the worst SoS ever he would have a hard time achieving it. He would have to be personally responsible for starting a nuclear war to be worse than all those other motherfuckers.
Go Speed Racer on Sun, 11th Dec 2016 6:05 pm
Wow, Tillerson and Putin are really enchanted with each other. Looks like a pro-gay-marriage poster.
At least there will be lots of cheap gasoline soon, that we wont be able to afford cause we all will lose our jobs after a few years of Trump.
Can’t the electrical college stop Trump? Seems like there’s enough proof at this point.
rockman on Sun, 11th Dec 2016 7:42 pm
If Rex gets the nod I couldn’t guess how it turns out. But consider the comments of one US senator, John Mccain, who described Putin as a murderous butcher. Now while not disagreeing with that characterization can you imagine Senator Mccain as SoS and sitting across the table from Putin trying to negotiate a DIPLOMATIC solution to the situation in Syria? The first term that comes to mind is non-starter. Actually can anyone even imagine such a meeting happening in the first place? Of course any SoS will have to deal with the rhetoric of many in the US govt. Which might explain why Secretary Kerry hasn’t made much progress with Putin.
Now how have our currernt “diplomatic” moves, such as sanctions, worked? Did Russia give back those portions of the Ukraine it took by force? Will they force Russia to keep supplying the Ukraine and the EU with NG if Putin decides otherwise? Has Secretary Kerry pulled some magnificent diplomatic moves causing Putin to stop supporting Assad? Or are thousands of Syrian civilians still being driven out of the country…or slaughtered?
Which isn’t to say anyone one else could have changed Russia’s positions in any of those matters. But so far it appears none of our diplomatic tools have worked…or ever will. But we do know one potentially effective lever with Putin/Russia…money/commerce. A lever China has ready access to since it doesn’t give a sh*t who Putin kills or what killers, like Assad, he supports. And if one follows the current trade dynamics between the two countries China appears to be taken full advantage of it being Putin’s only game in town.
So if sanctions, which aren’t really a “diplomatic” approach haven’t changed Putin’s approach with the rest of the world maybe instead of an ineffective stick maybe it’s time to try a carrot. Or a carrot delivered with an “or else” threat delivered secretly with it.
No idea if Rex would have such an approach in mind. But if anyone would know how to cut such a deal I would bet on a man who has cut many such potentially contentious deals with foreign govts before a career politician.
Now forget Russia and think about the president-elect’s pledge to “adjust” foreign trade deals that he considers the US getting the sh*tty side of the trade. And I’m not talking about a US company’s individual trade with a foreign company but nation to nation. If one doesn’t like ExxonMobil because of how it has position itself in global trade wouldn’t you want a man who was part of that effort trying to do the same for the entire country?
And a reminder of how the US govt defines the duties of the SoS:
Created in 1789 by the Congress as the successor to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of State is the senior executive Department of the U.S. Government. The Secretary of State’s duties relating to foreign affairs have not changed significantly since then, but they have become far more complex as international commitments multiplied. These duties — the activities and responsibilities of the State Department — include the following {a partial list}:
Conducts negotiations relating to U.S. foreign affairs;
Advises the President regarding the acceptance, recall, and dismissal of the representatives of foreign governments;
Personally participates in or directs U.S. representatives to international conferences, organizations, and agencies;
Negotiates, interprets, and terminates treaties and agreements;
Informs the Congress and American citizens on the conduct of U.S. foreign relations;
Promotes beneficial economic intercourse between the United States and other countries;
{Sounds like a job for someone with a long list of successful negotiations with foreign companies/govt’s.}
Anonymous on Sun, 11th Dec 2016 8:34 pm
Drinking a little too much coolaid down there texASS rocky?
Murderous butcher…..?
Parts of Ukraine taken by force…
Putin kills…
10/10 for hyperbole.
0/10 for anything like accuracy.
You should stick to describing the characteristics of hydrocarbons in the earth crust. That is something you are actually competent at. When it comes to accurately characterizing the leader of the Russian Federation? Not so much. You come across as a slightly less retarded version of boat when you try, or the exceptionalist maybe.
I dont know how you can fantasize about delivering even (more) threats to Russia than you do now. Is that even possible? You threaten them with bases, military maneuvers right on her borders, semi-covert proxy wars, Ukraine, Syria, have a small legion of paid 5th columnists (NGOs) inside Russia itself, impose sanctions, and direct your terrorist proxies and allies to physically attack Russia itself. Down its jets, military and civilian alike as ‘warnings’.
So Im curious to know, you amerikans are already directing and applying broad-spectrum threats against Russia *now*. What more do you want. nuke St Petersburg to see if hell ‘get the message’?
McCain is fooking senile moron himself. Like most of the rest of the amerikan ‘political’ class.
Like I said, stick to the finer points of fraking and poisoning groundwater, and you can never go wrong.
GregT on Sun, 11th Dec 2016 9:29 pm
McCain was up to his eyeballs in the US State Department instigated coup in Kiev.
Here he is with Neo Nazi Svoboda leader Oleh Tyahnybok. BFF.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eCutdkiKyvI/UxOw4hEjh2I/AAAAAAAAB_U/Xx0oQesN8cw/s1600/mccain-and-svoboda-leader.png
Promoting the uprising that lead to the massacre of tens of thousands of innocent people:
http://www.businessinsider.com/john-mccain-meets-oleh-tyahnybok-in-ukraine-2013-12
And heeere’s Kerry:
http://www.basfeijen.nl/newcoldwar/pic/ukrainejohnkerrytyahnybok.jpg
FSB on Sun, 11th Dec 2016 11:33 pm
The CIA says Russia fixed the election to support Trump.
This is the same CIA that imported cocaine into USA
Listen to MP3
http://fair.org/media_criticism/audio-gary-webb-on-dark-alliance-cia-and-drugs/
FSB on Sun, 11th Dec 2016 11:34 pm
https://consortiumnews.com/2016/12/09/big-medias-contra-cocaine-cover-up/
Don’t believe newspapers who work for CIA.
FSB on Sun, 11th Dec 2016 11:47 pm
http://www.alternet.org/media/anonymous-blacklist-promoted-washington-post-has-shocking-roots-ukrainian-fascism-eugenics-and
Washington exploits the America like U.K. exploited colonial India. Washington has no more economic empire to exploit so it now exploits its own populace. The tools of oppression from the margins of empire are now being utilized on Americans. It used to be that USA funded dictators had militarized police. Now every county sheriff has an MRAP.
Theedrich on Sun, 11th Dec 2016 11:50 pm
Rockman & Anon make good points. Besides those arguments, there is the simple fact that most American academics and other lefties have no idea about the hard realities in other countries. Few native-born Americans even speak any foreign languages, let alone being familiar with the history or culture of non-anglophone nations. Most see everything through the fantasy prism of guilt-imputing Protestant Christianity, which demonizes any leader who uses often necessary extrajudicial killings to restrain turbulence and sedition. (Think Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi, Bashar al-Assad, Rodrigo Duterte ….) Except, that is, when it comes to “our” killers, such as the Saudi clan and various rulers our overlords have placed in power in Africa and Central America, to say nothing of the current rulers of Vietnam, etc.)
John McCain was traumatized by his POW experience in Commie North Vietnam, and thinks Putin is Stalin reincarnate. He and Lindsey Graham are frozen in place by this idée fixe, as well as by their hatred of Trump. It will be difficult to get them to allow Tillerson to be Secretary of State. They want fellow anti-Trumpist Mitt Romney in that position. But maybe some tradeoff such as $10 billion for their pet projects can be arranged. In any case, we need Tillerson, not another “New-American-Century” warmongerer for Secretarius Status.
makati1 on Mon, 12th Dec 2016 12:52 am
FSB, American’s are blind to their own slavery to their own government elite. The DC vampires are out of foreign blood to drain so the American mix is needed to keep them alive.
The CIA is also the largest importer of illegal drugs in the the U$. Not that any American would believe it, although tens of thousands die from drug overdoses every year in the U$ and tens of thousands die from gun deaths from drug gangs and suicide also.
Go Speed Racer on Mon, 12th Dec 2016 2:18 am
At first when I heard about CEO Tillerson for Secretary of State…. it sounds awful, another Billionaire Corporate appointee into the government, the Exxon boss who is buddies with Putin.
And then on the other hand… who cares? So instead of war-mongering and lobbing bombs at each other the next 4 years, they are all oil-drilling buddies and we get cheap Russian oil.
Is that any worse than Hillary’s war-mongering? Might even be preferable.
Anyway, DA MOY ROOSKI CHELOVEK DROOZHYA, FILZ IT UP WIT DA NEEYET-O-LEADED BENEZENA, SPA-SEE-BAA, TSERP EE MALLOT, HOROSHO!!
Mr. Pockets on Mon, 12th Dec 2016 3:41 am
lol… this forum has been hijacked and cynnicism reigns… its so bizarre, many see Tillerson as “not so bad.”…. then you remember he literally denies climate change is man’s doing. … so there’s that about him.
Cloggie on Mon, 12th Dec 2016 3:47 am
There is only one way to interpret the nomination of Tillerson: a clear signal from Trump to Putin that he is interested in serious detente, making good on his campaign promise and as such should be applauded.
John Mccain, who described Putin as a murderous butcher. Now while not disagreeing with that characterization
Come on rockman, you can do better than that.
Davy on Mon, 12th Dec 2016 5:30 am
Mr. Pocket you deny that there is “nothing” we can do for climate change. What is the difference? When climate change advocates tell me there is nothing we can do to reverse climate change and get out of this whole then I will give you respect otherwise you are just whining and believe in fairies. If you want to make a difference with climate change then those actions will kill billions. If you deny what I just said then you are delusional and in denial. As long as there are denialist on both sides then who cares. If climate change people would embrace thinking like Guy McPherson then I will listen to you and give you respect. I get so sick of people who whine about climate change then say I have a fix. This fix is always a techno optimism fix. Techno optimist don’t understand global economics and they don’t understand systematic scale. These people are as bad as deplorables like Tillerson.
R1verat on Mon, 12th Dec 2016 6:27 am
Just another brick in the wall…I weep for us all. This is like a bad dream…
Cloggie on Mon, 12th Dec 2016 6:35 am
Just another brick in the wall…I weep for us all. This is like a bad dream…
Need a handkerchief?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya3EsjXKjgQ&t=4s
Dredd on Mon, 12th Dec 2016 7:18 am
Nothing new.
“One of our greatest helpers has been the State Department. Our ambassadors and ministers and consuls have aided to push our way into new markets in the utmost corners of the world.” – John D. Rockefeller (The Authoritarianism of Climate Change)