French President Emmanuel Macron, 43, tried to give a reality check to all parties concerning the tense Ukraine situation, where Russia has amassed 95,000 troops on the Ukrainian border. U.S. intel agencies have warned that a Russian invasion is imminent, not inevitable, but certainly a threat in the New Year. Both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have egged 79-year-old President Joe Biden on to draw and firm line in the sand to 69-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin has served notice to Ukraine and the West that he considers any attempt by NATO to encroach in Ukraine as “red line,” that could rigger a Russian military response. U.S., European Union [EU] and NATO officials don’t want to defend Ukraine’s sovereignty but, at the same time, worry about more Russian incursions into Ukraine. U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) wants Biden to challenge Putin in Ukraine.
Macron expressed the true EU feelings that he wants no part of any confrontation with the Russian Federation, regardless of what happens on the Ukraine border. “I think that our primary objective is to avoid any unnecessary tension, what I will calk self-fulfiling news,” Macron said, sending a loud message to Washington that France will not join in beating the war drums with Washington. Biden met on video chat with Putin Dec. 7, warning the Russian leader that any land grab in Ukraine would be met with the stiffest global sanctions ever seen. Putin has told the global press that Russia has no plans on seizing more Ukrainian territory after taking the Crimean Peninsula March 1, 2014. Western officials, especially Biden, mention nothing about the Feb. 22, 2014 CIA-backed, pro-Western coup that toppled the duly elected, Kremlin-backed government of Viktor Yanukovych.
Putin invaded Crimea after the CIA-backed coup topped Yankovych’s Kiev government, threatening Russia’s Sevastopol naval base in Crimea. Putin didn’t seize Crimea out of the blue. He seized Crimea March 1, 2014 because a CIA-backed pro-Western coup toppled the Kremlin-backed government that provided safe harbor for Russia’s warm water fleet. Putin wasn’t about to surrender Russia’s national security to the angry mob that chased Yanukovych out of Kiev. “What we all want, Europeans and Americans, is to show that we are paying close attention to the situation [in Ukraine],” Macron told a press conference with German’s new Chancellor Olaf Scholz at his side. If you listen to U.S. elected officials or their friend in the press, a Russian invasion of Ukraine is imminent. Putin has reassured the press repeatedly that he has no intention in sending more troops into Ukraine.
Macorn said he spoke with 43-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about the border situation, telling the Ukrainian president he wants to return to the Normandy format, a group of countries including France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine, to resolve any remaining issues. Zelensky has resisted joining the Normandy protocol, preferring instead to beat the war drums, only recently insisting that Ukraine, with new American firepower, could resist any Russian invasion. Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said today that with all the U.S. weapons, Ukraine could not stop a Russian land invasion. Zelensky has begged NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg for over two years since taking office May 20, 2019 to join NATO. Stoltenberg hasn’t let that happen for one good reason, NATO has no intention of fighting Ukraine’s battles with Putin and the Russia Federation.
Unlike Biden, Macron understands the implications of another war on the European Continent, not something he’s willing to entertain. Putin’s demands of Ukraine and NATO are reasonable, keeping NATO out of Ukraine. Zelensky has done almost anything to start a war, letting NATO and the U.S. fight Ukraine’s battles. But whatever the issues with Ukraine, Zelensky needs to go back to the drawing board when it comes to diplomacy with Putin. If there’s any chance of getting back Crimea, it’s not with the barrel of a gun but with diplomacy. When Fox News primetime host Tucker Carlson expressed the exact same views as Macron, he was accused of doing Putin’s bidding. Sound familiar? That was the same fake accusation made against former President Donald Trump about U.S.-Russian relations. Biden has the U.S. and Russia with bayonets poised for armed conflict.
Macron has done the world a service putting brakes on the Ukraine situation, where it’s clear that the EU and NATO want no part of any war with the Russian Federation. Regardless of what happens in Ukraine, the U.S. has no national security interest in Ukraine, with zero needs to confront Putin. Putin said in his Dec. 7 video chat with Biden he wanted only to improve U.S.-Russian relations, wanting no part of any armed conflict. “We will launch further activities to make sure that Ukraine has a good perspective,” said Scholz, making his first official visit as German Chancellor. “We have a good basis that needs to be revived—for example the talks in the Normandy format,” Scholz said, telling Zelensky and his Kiev government that the path forward is through open discussion. Macron has set the record straight in Ukraine the EU will back only diplomacy, nothing else.
