Whenever Angela Merkel speaks out from her political retirement, people listen attentively.

This was particularly true when she discussed the events leading up to Russia's attack on Ukraine in February 2022,  in a recent interview with the independent Hungarian news portal Partizan.

Merkel, who was German chancellor until December 2021, had a decisive influence on European policy toward Russia.

In the interview, Merkel reflected on the months leading up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She described how the coronavirus pandemic had complicated communication with Russian President Vladimir Putin. She also discussed how she had initiated talks between the EU and Russia in June 2021, with the intention of stabilizing the fragile ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia.

According to Merkel, she wanted "us as the European Union to talk directly to Putin. This was not supported by some countries, primarily the Baltic states. Poland was also against it as they were afraid that we did not have a common policy towards Russia."

However, the attempt failed. "Then I left office, and the aggression of Putin began," recalls the former chancellor.

Heavy criticism from Poland and the Baltic states

This statement has sparked fierce opposition in the relevant countries. "It's outrageous," Andris Pabriks, Latvia's defense minister between 2019 and 2022, told DW. "Because basically, she's accusing us of enabling the invasion. (...) She's turning things upside down and is unable to admit her own mistakes, which have actually cost a lot," he said.

"Suggesting that the Baltics or Poland are to blame for Russia's aggression against Ukraine is not only impertinent but simply wrong," Estonian Foreign Minister Magnus Tsakhna stated on the social media platform X, adding that "the real cause is Putin's refusal to accept the USSR's collapse and the West's past appeasement while ignoring clear warning signs."

Neither the aggression against Georgia in 2008 nor the annexation of Crimea in 2014 had elicited a strong response, the most senior Estonian diplomat lamented.

Poland also criticized Merkel's statement. It is "absurd" to claim that no one sat down at the negotiating table with Russia in time, Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz, head of the Polish Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy, told the Polish TV channel Polsat News.

Russia, she said, is clearly the aggressor, pointing out that in her view, Merkel's words "are completely inappropriate today; they play into the hands of Russian propaganda."

https://www.dw.com/en/angela-merkel-russia-ukraine-war-poland-estonia-latvia-baltic-states/a-74269841

 

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

 

LYUBA LULKO
It Was Trump, Not Biden, Who Laid Groundwork for Special Military Operation in Ukraine

Donald Trump’s decisions to arm Ukraine and sanction Russia during his first term laid the foundation for the conflict that erupted in 2022—revealing that his later “peacekeeper” image was politically motivated.

 

Trump, Not Biden, Transformed U.S. Military Aid to Ukraine

For a long time, the Kremlin viewed Donald Trump as a figure who embodied the potential for agreements that could ease tensions with NATO and open the way for mutually beneficial projects. This belief was based on Trump’s repeated assertion that “the war in Ukraine is Biden’s fault—if I had been president, it would never have happened.”

Yet, after the U.S. president authorized Volodymyr Zelensky to “go for Moscow” and promised to supply Ukraine’s armed forces with Tomahawk missiles, Trump increasingly appeared as a typical American imperialist whose veiled plans were directed against Russia from the very beginning. In fact, it was Trump who made a series of decisions during his first term that laid the groundwork for what Joe Biden later continued in 2022.

From Non-Lethal Aid to Offensive Weapons

Before Trump, the administration of former President Barack Obama provided Ukraine exclusively with non-lethal assistance—bulletproof vests, night vision equipment, radios, tents, medical supplies, and other gear. Obama refused to supply lethal weapons, fearing an escalation of the conflict. That policy changed dramatically in December 2017, when the Trump administration made the landmark decision to authorize the delivery of lethal weapons to Ukraine.

During Trump’s first term, Washington’s support included:

• Javelin anti-tank missiles;
• Mark VI patrol boats equipped with anti-ship missiles;
• Sniper rifles such as the Barrett M82, machine guns, grenade launchers, and large quantities of small-arms ammunition;
• RQ-11 Raven reconnaissance drones;
• Artillery radar systems AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder and AN/TPQ-49 capable of tracking artillery positions based on projectile trajectories;
• Electronic warfare (EW) equipment.

Trump Pushed Germany to Halt Nord Stream 2

It was Trump—by his own admission—who “killed” the Nord Stream 2 pipeline by imposing sanctions and publicly chastising then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“I think it is very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia. We are supposed to be guarding against Russia, and Germany goes out and pays billions and billions dollars a year to Russia," Trump said in 2018.

His current calls to “end the war” in Ukraine appear, in this light, to be more about securing the support of the MAGA movement and ultraconservative voters ahead of the election. But after the election, priorities inevitably shift to another form of support—the powerful U.S. military-industrial complex, the ultimate sponsor of every American president. Whether Democrat or Republican, anyone who occupies the Oval Office becomes part of a system rooted in the notion of “American exceptionalism,” one that ultimately drives U.S. leaders to act against Russia.

This is confirmed by the bipartisan consensus in Congress on the “need for Ukraine’s victory” and “Russia’s defeat.” Parliamentary-level contacts between the Russian Federation and the United States are effectively nonexistent.

Russia Forced to Toughen Its Objectives in Ukraine

Russia has not fallen into Trump’s “friendly” trap. The Special Military Operation continues, and it has become clear that illusions are futile: the operation was timely and the only possible measure to counter NATO’s further expansion—especially after the establishment of a military base in Ochakiv.

Ukraine has become nothing more than a staging ground for the West’s proxy war against Russia. The West remains united in its goal of dismantling Russia, differing only in the size of each ally’s financial contribution. Consequently, Russia is forced to:

• pursue the operation with greater resolve, creating a buffer zone to push the border farther from Russian cities;
• carry out preemptive strikes on decision-making centers inside Ukraine;
• and toughen its strategic objectives—now potentially extending to Ukraine’s complete capitulation and demilitarization, ensuring it can never again be used as a platform for attacks against Russia.

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https://english.pravda.ru/world/164445-trump-biden-ukraine/

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.