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 ...
I think it’s pretty clear that shortly after the beginning of Trump’s next term that U.S. participation in NATO will end.
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