By Itunuoluwa Adebo

We think that Jon Huntsman, if confirmed as Donald Trump’s pick for  Russian ambassador, will have an overflowing inbox when he turns up for work in Moscow.

Whether it’s hacking, missile deployments, Syria or Ukraine, there will be plenty of briefing papers awaiting Washington’s new man in Russia. Just as challenging for Huntsman will be dealing with various constituencies back home in Washington. Trump has frequently said that he wants a partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin, though he has complained that in the present atmosphere that’s less likely.

As the former envoy to China under the Obama administration, Huntsman has plenty of experience in dealing with a powerful state that has a range of complex and often competing relationships with the US. And although his expertise is in the Asia-pacific region ad not Russia, he knows how the federal bureaucracy works.

Huntsman is a “remarkably good choice” at a time when American attitudes toward the Kremlin are becoming increasingly polarized, according to former US ambassador to Russia Thomas Pickering.

“We have demonized contacts with Russia,” Pickering told CNN Thursday. “We are caught on the horns of a dilemma — some people want to see (Russia) as the next implacable enemy, with no possibility of any working with them.”

“Others want to glorify (Trump) as the new messiah on the scene , a wonderful guy we can all deal with. Neither of those views have any real sense of reality.”

“Jon Huntsman is an individual who can bring a great sense of reality — he understands international politics as well as anybody I know and I think he’s a remarkably good choice for this job.”

Itunuoluwa