Posted on 01/29/2022 7:28:35 PM PST by elpadre
Former President Donald Trump said the US should not be involved in the Ukraine-Russian crisis, calling it a 'European problem' after Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to hold talks with Germany, France and Ukraine while Joe Biden said he would deploy troops to the area 'in the near term' without backing from NATO.
Speaking with conservative radio host Glenn Beck on Saturday, Trump said the US should keep out of Europe but doubted Germany could help broker a peace agreement due to its gas dependence with Russia through the Nord Stream 2 pipeline deal.
'They're getting their energy from Russia, so Russia has total control over Germany,' Trump said. 'And Germany's saying, 'Oh, we don't want to fight them.' They can't fight them.
'Russia owns Germany,' he reiterated.
The $11 million Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was designed to double the gas flowing directly from Russia to Germany, a project that has faced criticism in Europe and the US as it provides the Kremlin dangerous leverage over Europe.
Trump called it 'one of the dumbest moves I've ever seen,' and said he warned then-German Chancellor Angela Merkle of the implications.
'And I'm the one that brought that up. Nobody even knew about it,' Trump said. 'I used to talk about it all the time.
He added that when Germany agreed to the pipeline deal, he sent over a white flag to Merkle.
'It's a white flag of surrender,' Trump said. 'I told Angela, you're turning your whole country into Russia.'
Trump's comments come a day after Biden vowed to mobilize troops in the Eastern Europe without NATO's backing.
'I'll be moving troops to Eastern Europe and the NATO countries in the near term. Not too many,' Biden said as he got off Air Force One after a trip to Pittsburgh.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Except......Ukraine owns Biden
“..Ukraine had too deal with corruption and it’s still a major issue there,..”
Is corruption in Ukraine as bad as it is in Washington, DC? I submit our government and it’s leaders (Biden and family) are much worse. Where did the billions of dollars of pandemic and stimulus money disappear to?? The Biden money laundering, influence peddling, etc. , the jillions poured into FDA, CDC, big pharma?? How do politicians moving to WDC become millionaires??
Talking about foreign policy establishment I see that W. Lewis Anslelm - the Diplomad - has started to blog again. I send the links to his three latest installments. The last one (top of the list) is about Putin and Ukraine:
https://thediplomad.blogspot.com/2022/01/drums-along-potomac-will-we-bumble-into.html#comment-form
https://thediplomad.blogspot.com/2022/01/right-all-along-biden-as-ed-woods-bela.html
https://thediplomad.blogspot.com/2022/01/back-sorta.html
“Former President Donald Trump said the US should not be involved in the Ukraine-Russian crisis, calling it a ‘European problem’ “
The stupid-assed neocons disagree.
How many want to post on this thread, but are afraid?
Afraid of what?
These two writers Philipps and Reyes are on Putin’s payroll.
The meeting that didn’t have US diplomats is mis-characterized. That Euro group is run from an EU alphabet organization, with full support of the US.
Also, Germany has stated emphatically that it will not use Nord Stream 2 if Russia invades Ukraine. So, the leverage with that pipeline goes both ways.
Trump is correct that it was stupid for Germany to go along with the NS2 pipeline. But not working out the way genius Putin thought.
Russian leverage is diluted by the fact that 80% of the Russian economy is energy. They need the cash from energy as much as Germany needs energy. It goes both ways.
“These two writers Philipps and Reyes are on Putin’s payroll.”
Liar.
Tovarich, my Russian friend. It’s true, they constantly characterize what is going on from the Putin perspective. But, the truth is that Putin boxed himself in.
The Nord Stream2 has not been approved yet, so so far Germany is not using it. But Germany is using Nord Stream 1.
More news from Handelsblatt (German business paper):
Stoltenberg (NATO General Secretary) rules out NATO mission even in the event of an invasion
German federal electricity network agency: Approval of Nord Stream 2 probably not until June
Klingbeil (SPD [Social Democrats - the ruling party]): Arms deliveries to Ukraine would be a completely wrong signal +++
US is apparently preparing sanctions against major Russian banks +++ [PM] Johnson [UK] is considering sending soldiers and weapons +++
You are a committed neocon liar.
Everyone here detests you.
Nice try. Go drink some vodka, my Russian friend.
NS2 is ready for operations and has not been approved yet, that is correct. However, if Russia invades, the Germans have stated unequivocally, that they will not use it.
It’s turning out to be great leverage against Russia.
The US/NATO/EU have all made concrete statements that they will not intervene militarily. That’s Russian propaganda that the West would send troops.
They will punish Russia, where it hurts, in their economy. Putin doesn’t give 2 vodka shots about dead Russians or Ukrainians.
“They will punish Russia, where it hurts, in their economy.”
It’s apparent you fully support Joe Biden’s eastern European strategy.
You didn’t support Trump sending Javelins to Ukraine. You didn’t support Trump’s bolstering Poland and the Baltics with weapons and NATO troops.
NS2 is ready for operations and has not been approved yet, that is correct. However, if Russia invades, the Germans have stated unequivocally, that they will not use it.
It’s turning out to be great leverage against Russia.
The US/NATO/EU have all made concrete statements that they will not intervene militarily. That’s Russian propaganda that the West would send troops.
They will punish Russia, where it hurts, in their economy.
When it comes the Normandy format, I am sorry to say you are wrong. Read here (sorry, for a Gruniad link, but it was the first one I found).
So far, assuming that not all players play a bad game (like in 1914),I think the risk of a military conflict is very small. However, I see NATO risk being split, and the EU trying to take over much of the diplomatic power games on the European continent. In the long run I think this will be a disadvantage for the US and the UK, and it will create large problems for the smaller countries (EU or non-EU memebers, NATO or non-NATO menbers) on the European continent.
More on the Normandy format negotiations:
(Same link as before to Handelsblatt, my translation from the German):
(German) Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will travel to Kiev at the beginning of February in view of the tense situation in the Ukraine conflict. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian wrote on Twitter on Saturday that he would travel to Ukraine with Baerbock on February 7 and 8. The Federal Foreign Office in Berlin confirmed that Baerbock would travel to Kiev “soon”, but did not give an exact date. “We are continuing our efforts in N4 format for de-escalation,” Baerbock wrote on Twitter. The N4 format refers to the consultations of Russia and Ukraine mediated by Germany and France, also known as the Normandy format.
In the Normandy format, the tense situation was last discussed at consultant level on Wednesday. However, the more than eight-hour talks remained without concrete results. A desired consolidation of the ceasefire was emphasized. In addition, a follow-up meeting in Berlin was agreed.
I take your point on the Normandy Format. However, I’m linking it to their biggest achievement, the Minsk Protocol, which was linked the the EU organization, OSCE, as described below:
“The Minsk Protocol is an agreement which sought to end war in the Donbas region of Ukraine. It was written in 2014 by the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, consisting of Ukraine, the Russian Federation, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE),[1][2][3] with mediation by the leaders of France and Germany in the so-called Normandy Format.”
The trolling on here is absurd, in regard to, false statements that the US/NATO will go to war in Ukraine. The only nations’s going to war would be Russia and Ukraine.
The Russians, pose this as an existential threat, but it’s is WWII style blackmail through brute force and invasion. If you are right that they are prepared to partake of this economic punishment, it is another Putin miscalculation.
The economic punishment should not be confused with sanctions. It is systemic banking and trading consequences, and that along with denial of NS2, will be transformational in a negative way for Putin.
Sounds like Putti Put is a raging Capitalist…
Unfortunately, a lot of that "trolling" relies on statements by no less than POTUS and the UK PM. I can just hope that all parties (Putin, POTUS, PM and so forth) listen to president Zelinsky, and calm down.
You are correct that it looks like any economic sanctions will be more on the "systemic" front, ie SWIFT, but at least a couple of days ago it appeared that SWIFT was not going to implement any sanctions against Russian banks - though, US pressure may still force the Belgium based organization to implement santions. There are, however, competitors that may take up the slack if SWIFT is involved in a trade war.
Bammy isn’t the “Big Cheese” he is just the figurehead and “Philosopher..” The Big Kahuna is someone (or plural) else…
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