Tag: nato
Trump Welcomes

Trump Welcomes 'Russian Puppet' Orban As Biden Hosts NATO Leaders

President Joe Biden this week has been hosting the leaders of the 32 nations that form the 75-year old alliance known as NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, On Thursday evening, ex-president Donald Trump, the convicted felon who remains out on bail and is still facing 54 criminal counts, hosted the authoritarian Christian nationalist prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump’s meeting with Orbán comes just one week after the far-right autocrat, branded a “neo-fascist dictator” back in 2014 by the late Republican U.S. Senator John McCain, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, and just days after Orbán met with China’s President Xi Jinping, reportedly on a “peace mission” for the Russian war against Ukraine.

Thursday will be Trump’s second meeting this year with Orbán.

Critics have been sounding alarms.

“Fresh from visiting Xi in China and Putin in Moscow, Viktor Orban will apparently complete his pilgrimage by showing up at Mar-a-Lago today,” observed The Bulwark’s Bill Kristol.

“Trump meeting Orban opposite NATO Summit immediately following Orban mtg w Putin and Xi is the sort of betrayal of the US that would’ve led to Congressional investigations or worse in the past,” observed noted foreign policy, national security, and political affairs analyst and author David Rothkopf.

“Russian propagandists have been claiming Orban is acting as an intermediary, delivering messages from Putin to Trump and vice versa,” wroteDaily Beast columnist Julia Davis, creator of the Russian Media Monitor.

“U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman lashed out at Orbán recently, saying that no other U.S. ally has so ‘overtly and tirelessly’ campaigned for the Republican candidate,” Politico reports. “This week, Orbán praised Trump in an interview with Axel Springer media outlets, which owns POLITICO, as ‘the man of peace,’ and he predicted there is a ‘very, very high chance’ Biden will not win the U.S. election.”

Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe expert Olga Lautman, a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) also issued a warning:

“As NATO holds its summit Russian media reports that Russian puppet Orban may share info he collected from Russia & China of terrorist Russia’s nonstarter plan for Ukraine w Trump. Pay attention to Orban’s moves while he is in U.S. especially with Heritage Foundation and Trump’s people.”

The Heritage Foundation is the major entity behind the multi-million dollar Project 2025.

Lautman also pointed to a March post she wrote: “Newly emerged evidence shows how Hungary and Russia worked together during the 2020 Slovak elections to help the Slovak government stay in power, Orban acted as a middleman. Take note America,” she warned.

Also issuing warnings is former CIA analyst Gail Helt.

Responding to anotherPolitico report that “Donald Trump is considering a reduction in intelligence sharing with members of NATO, which depends on the U.S. for the type of information that has helped Ukraine fend off Russia,” Helt wrote: “Oh dear God.”

“I walk my students through some ‘what if’ exercises in my intro to Intel analysis class,” she wrote Wednesday night, “this will make a great case study: what if an American president wanted to ally with Russia without the American people knowing? What would that look like? What would we see? What could he do?”

“This,” she continued. “He could do this. Curtailing Intel sharing with NATO hands the continent to Russia. He’s not trying to make America great. He’s will make Russia great and erode US standing in the world. We have to ask why. Don’t let him do it.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Biden Praised For 'Deft' Press Conference, But Gaffes Provoke Doubt

Biden Praised For 'Deft' Press Conference, But Gaffes Provoke Doubt

Various journalists, commentators and experts are praising President Joe Biden's most recent live press conference, and his command of complex domestic and international issues.

The president spoke extemporaneously at the 75th North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit for more than an hour, and gave detailed answers to questions on various topics ranging from taxes and tariffs to inflation, the Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations, the Russia-Ukraine war and even Indo-Pacific trade policy. Still, Biden seems to have done little to taper Congressional Democrats' calls for him to step down.

"I still think it’s probably in the Democratic Party’s best interest for Biden to step down," tweeted MSNBC and Daily Beast columnist Michael Cohen (whose bio on X reads "NOT Trump's lawyer). "[B]ut any doubts I had that Biden can still do the job of president have been quashed by this press conference."

Washington Post reporter Aaron Blake observed that Biden "has spent more than 8 minutes responding to a foreign-policy question and 2 follow-ups from NYT's David Sanger." When calling on Sanger, Biden wryly referenced his icy relationship with the national newspaper of record, playfully telling Sanger to "be nice."

Those reacting to the press conference also compared Biden's deft knowledge of the ins and outs of policy to former President Donald Trump's rambling tirades. Tim Tagaris, who was a former adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vermont) 2016 presidential campaign, tweeted: "Donald Trump couldn't come within 1,000 miles of having this kind of substantive policy conversation on any topic, period. And everyone knows that to be true."

"Trump didn't even know what NATO was and still doesn't, whereas Biden knows so much about foreign policy that he can bore us with it," former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega tweeted. "That is what we need in a president, even if it doesn't make for exciting TV."

While Biden's press conference was mostly cogent and substantive, he did have one notable gaffe. When answering one reporter's question about whether he felt Vice President Kamala Harris was capable of being president, Biden noted that she was, though he mistakenly referred to her as "Vice President Trump." This came after another gaffe on Thursday in which Biden wrongly introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as "President Putin," before quickly correcting himself.

Bluesky user GoneBabyGone opined that, given the president's demonstration of expert knowledge on various major policy topics, his gaffe was not a significant error.

"I think you can question Biden’s electability and mental acuity and acknowledge he probably does not actually think Donald Trump is the vice president," they wrote.

University of Texas-Austin journalism professor John Schwartz echoed that sentiment, writing: "Whatever the verbal flubs, Biden's command of the issues is sharp here."

Mother Jones D.C. bureau chief David Corn gave his summation of the press conference by tweeting: "Biden: Made a gaffe about Putin. Trump: Told Putin he could do what he wants."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Why Are We Doing Less For Ukraine's Defense Than Tiny Denmark?

Why Are We Doing Less For Ukraine's Defense Than Tiny Denmark?

A little under two months ago, tiny Denmark – with a population less than that of New York City and a GDP of $400 billion – committed its “entire artillery” to Ukraine. “The Ukrainians are asking us for ammunition now. Artillery now. From the Danish side, we decided to donate our entire artillery,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told the Munich Security Conference on February 18.

How did we, the richest, most powerful nation in the world, become the country that is turning its back on Ukraine? I’m using the royal “we” here, but you know who I’m talking about: the Republican Party, led by Donald Trump, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, who ordered House Republicans not to bring up for a vote the Senate’s $95 billion aid package for Ukraine and Israel, which has been moldering on Capitol Hill for nearly two months since the Senate passed it on a bipartisan vote of 70 to 29. Trump was said not to want a bipartisan victory for Biden in an election year, so he picked up the phone and called his poodles in the House and killed a potential deal to bring the Senate bill to the floor where it was expected to pass.

Look at this headline in Sunday’s print edition of the New York Times: “Low on Ammunition, Ukraine Is Ill Equipped to Stop Russian Push.” The story describes a 155 mm howitzer position in Eastern Ukraine where Russia has recently made gains on the ground. The crew of the howitzer had a stock of 33 rounds of ammunition when they received an order to fire on a target. Moments later, they had 16 rounds left. “Artillery decides battles,” said Capt. Vladyslav Slominsky, the commander of the battery with the howitzer that was down to only 16 rounds of ammunition. “Who has more wins.”

The artillery is a proud branch in the United States military. They call their branch “The Queen of Battle” because of the firepower that can be brought to bear on the enemy at a moment’s notice. The war that Ukraine has fought against Russia since the 600 mile front line settled into existence late in 2022 has been almost exclusively an artillery war fought with 155 mm howitzers and HIMARS ground-to-ground rockets.

The Russians have more artillery pieces, more rockets, more tanks, and more soldiers, but Ukraine has hung onto the territory they hold, including the parts they took back from Russian forces near Kharkiv and Kherson earlier in the war. Ukraine’s artillery is said to be more accurate and efficient than Russia’s, which wasted tens of thousands of shells firing wildly into the flat agricultural fields of Eastern Ukraine early in 2023 after the front lines stalemated.

Once Russia began its campaign to take individual towns in Eastern Ukraine such as Bakhmut and Avdiivka, their artillery became more accurate. Given small towns as targets, Russian artillery sat back and simply flattened the towns with tens of thousands of artillery rounds, eventually leaving Ukrainian forces no place left to defend, so they pulled back. Now Russia has claimed to have taken the tiny village of Vodayne, about five miles east of Donetsk and a few miles south of Avdiivka. Tactically, it is yet another redoubt that Ukraine had hung onto as the country continues to defend its eastern flank. Strategically, it is not large enough to be significant.

What is significant, however, is why the village was lost: dwindling ammunition stocks.

The Times quoted Swedish military analyst Johan Norberg saying, “You cannot expect people to fight without ammunition.” But you don’t have to interview an expert to know that armies without bullets cease to be armies and turn into targets.

Vladimir Putin knows this like he knows his own name. Even Donald Trump has seen enough gangster movies to know that when you run out of ammo, you get killed. That’s probably why Trump has leaned on House Republicans not to pass the Ukraine aid bill. If Ukraine runs out of ammunition, and Russia starts winning its war on Ukraine, it will make Trump’s pal Putin happy, and the Russian victories will happen on Joe Biden’s watch. In politics, that is called a win-win.

But it’s a lose-lose not only for Ukraine, but for America’s standing in the world as a bulwark against the kind of totalitarian aggression Russia has brought to bear on its neighbor. Russia could not assert its influence over Ukraine by installing puppet presidents like Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian politician Paul Manafort helped to put in power in 2010. Yanukovych proceeded to loot Ukraine by installing cronies from the region of eastern Ukraine with a large Russian-speaking population, the Donbas. Nearly 50 percent of the economic development budget for the entirety of Ukraine went to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions under Yanukovych.

When he was overthrown in 2014, Putin invaded and occupied Crimea and probably began his plans to militarily invade and seize all of Ukraine. Yanukovych, naturally, fled to Russia, where he still resides. And Paul Manafort, who ran Trump’s campaign in 2016, is said to be in talks to take a prominent position in the current Trump campaign.

What has stood between Putin’s ambitions and Ukraine’s existence is the United States and NATO. Now Donald Trump appears to be running on a platform of turning Ukraine over to Putin and getting the United States out of the NATO alliance, which just last week celebrated its 75th anniversary.

How did we get here? How is it that this corrupt man facing four separate criminal indictments in three different jurisdictions has been able to nearly singlehandedly stymie this country’s ability to help the rest of NATO defeat Putin’s fascistic attempt to take over Ukraine? Why do these Republicans even bother to run for Congress, unless all they really want to do is follow the orders of this man who is weakening the United States with every breath he takes?

What has happened to us? Who are we?

Lucian K. Truscott IV, a graduate of West Point, has had a 50-year career as a journalist, novelist, and screenwriter. He has covered Watergate, the Stonewall riots, and wars in Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He is also the author of five bestselling novels. You can subscribe to his daily columns at luciantruscott.substack.com and follow him on Twitter @LucianKTruscott and on Facebook at Lucian K. Truscott IV.

Please consider subscribing to Lucian Truscott Newsletter, from which this is reprinted with permission.

How Biden Can Drive Trump Even Further Around The Bend

How Biden Can Drive Trump Even Further Around The Bend

Please, Mr. President, more of this!

In a speech at the White House yesterday, President Biden said this about Donald Trump’s threat not to defend NATO allies: “For God’s sake, it’s dumb. It’s shameful. It’s dangerous. It’s un-American. When America gives its word, it means something. When we make a commitment, we keep it.”

Biden urged the House of Representatives to take up and pass the Senate’s $95 billion national security and foreign aid bill. He lit into Trump in a way he should be lighting into him every day. Biden’s words got quoted. Film of the speech has been played on cable television. People are talking about the way he put down his unhinged Republican opponent.

After quoting Trump saying he would “encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want” to NATO allies who are “delinquent” in their defense spending, Biden said, “Can you imagine a former president of the United States saying that? The whole world heard it. No other president in our history has ever bowed down to a Russian dictator. Well, let me say this as clearly as I can: I never will.”

The president went on to remind everyone that Article 5 of the NATO treaty, pledging every nation to defend other nations if they are attacked, has been invoked only once -- in support of the United States of America after al-Qaeda attacked us on 9/11. “NATO is a sacred commitment. The greatest hope of all those who wish America harm is for NATO to fall apart. You can be sure that they all cheered when they heard what Donald Trump said. I know this. I will not walk away. For as long as I am president, if Putin attacks a NATO ally, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory.”

This is the way to beat Trump. Americans like presidents who live up to commitments, who stand up to bullies, who don’t just talk tough, but are tough. Biden needs to point out these differences between himself and Trump as often as he can. The Biden campaign should have T-shirts and lawn signs made up with Trump’s photograph and the words, dumb, shameful, dangerous and un-American.

Biden should make a statement from the White House every day that Donald Trump makes an appearance in court. He can start today, when Trump will be in court in New York’s criminal case against him for illegally concealing his payment to Stormy Daniels. Tell the world that while Trump is cleaning up after his mistress pay-offs, Biden is standing up for tax payers and saving them money on prescription drugs and pushing for middle class tax cuts.

Put out a “Trump schedule” and note every time he is in court and what the charges are. Have President Biden get up at the White House and make a statement like, “Here is what we are doing at the White House while Donald Trump is in court today,” followed by a list of Democrats’ accomplishments, the unemployment numbers, the fact that a state just raised the minimum wage with Democratic support, Democrats’ support for women’s reproductive rights, for teaching American history accurately rather than whitewashing the past.

Biden should take advantage of the White House and use it the way Trump uses his rallies: Stand there in the White House and tell the truth about Trump. Use his own words to make him look like the fool he is. Point out his cowardice every time he insults American soldiers. Poke fun at him. Somebody on the Biden campaign should be retweeting photos like the one above, just to drive him crazy.

Lucian K. Truscott IV, a graduate of West Point, has had a 50-year career as a journalist, novelist, and screenwriter. He has covered Watergate, the Stonewall riots, and wars in Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He is also the author of five bestselling novels. You can subscribe to his daily columns at luciantruscott.substack.com and follow him on Twitter @LucianKTruscott and on Facebook at Lucian K. Truscott IV.

Please consider subscribing to Lucian Truscott Newsletter, from which this is reprinted with permission.

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