Rex Tillerson’s nomination as the next secretary of state confirms Vladimir Putin as one of the strategic victors of the US presidential election. Barack Obama has ordered an inquiry into covert Russian intervention in the campaign, which the CIA says was designed to secure a victory for Donald Trump. But whether or not Russian intervention made a significant difference to the outcome, a Tillerson appointment would represent a significant gain for Moscow. He must be confirmed by the Senate. While the other leading candidates for the job held largely traditional and adversarial views on Russia, the outgoing chief executive of Exxon Mobil has a history of close business ties to Putin, who bestowed the Order of Friendship on Tillerson in 2013. The 64-year-old Texas oilman spent much of his career working on Russian deals, including a 2011 agreement giving Exxon Mobil access to the huge resources under the Russian Arctic in return for giving the giant state-owned Russian oil company, OAO Rosneft, the opportunity to invest in Exxon Mobil’s operations overseas.
"Trump’s choice suggests he wants to make good on his promise to cut deals with Russia instead of containing it. "
Thomas Wright, Brookings Institution.
If the sanctions were lifted, the Arctic project would probably go ahead and Tillerson’s retirement fund of Exxon Mobil stock would increase in value. He would most likely have to divest himself of stock by the time he entered the office on the seventh floor of the state department. It might be harder to divorce his judgments entirely from the oil company where he spent his career.
“Tillerson has a relationship with Putin and he opposed the sanctions imposed on Russia after the annexation of Crimea. This will alarm those worried about Russian intentions in Europe.”
Praising Tillerson in an interview with Fox News Sunday, Trump said: “To me a great advantage is that he knows many of the players in the world and he knows them well.”
Lest there be any doubt about which players the president-elect had in mind, Trump added: “He does massive deals in Russia not for himself, but for the company.”
‘A culture of intimidation’
In a very real sense, Tillerson has been a head of a state within a state. Exxon Mobil is bigger economically than many countries. It has its own foreign policy and its own contracted security forces.
As a state, it has much in common with the one run by Putin and Sechin.
“They have a culture of intimidation that they bring to bear in their external relations, and it is plenty understood inside the corporation too. They make people nervous, they make people afraid,” Coll, now a journalism professor at Columbia University, told Texas Monthly.
Running the state department would not be like running Exxon Mobil, however. For a start, Tillerson would have to audition in front of a sceptical Senate. Even before Trump announced his decision on Tuesday, leading Democrats were painting Tillerson as a Moscow stooge.
The New Jersey senator Bob Menendez said on Twitter: “Rex Tillerson as secretary of state would guarantee Russia has a willing accomplice in the president’s cabinet.”
With a slim 52-48 majority, it would only take three Republican senators in revolt to cast Tillerson’s job in doubt. He would face aggressive questioning from Republican foreign policy hawks, led by John McCain.
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