LOS ANGELES.–Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed dismay of the European Union’s announcement that it would spend another $800 billion on defense, primarily because of the Ukraine War. President Donald Trump, 78, has spoken with 72-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin over normalizing U.S.-Russian relations, clear steps to improve dialogue and global cooperation before the Ukraine War threw a roadblock on U.S.-Russian relations. Former President Joe Biden, 82, opted for proxy war in Ukraine with the Kremlin, telling the world in 2022 that the aim of the U.S. proxy war with the Kremlin was to degrade the Russian military to the point it could no longer wage war. If that weren’t a declaration of war with Russia, then what was? Biden left little doubt about his intent, letting his former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin deliver the exact same message.
With Trump actively engaged in peace efforts with Putin, Peskov can’t understand the warmongering coming the European Union [EU]. “The militarization of Europe is an extremely dangerous trend,” Peskov said in Moscow. Peskov said saber rattling in Brussels would “neither lead to détente nor restore trust. Nor does it make Europe safer,” Peskov said, responding to French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Von der Leyen actually called the Kremlin a “clear and present danger” because of the Ukraine War, convinced that the cryptic aim of Putin was annexation of other European countries, perhaps former Soviet satellites like Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Putin has never said that he seeks more EU countries only that he’s defending Russia against encroachment by the U.S. and European Union in Ukraine.
EU officials plan to spend $866 billion over the next four years, something that troubles the Kremlin, knowing belligerent remarks by Macron, von der Leyen and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, all blaming the Kremlin for the Ukraine War. Former President Biden said that the Feb. 24, 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine was “unprovoked and unjustified,” the same position taken by the EU. Biden had been arming Ukraine while Vice President under former President Barack Obama after the Feb. 22, 2014 CIA-backed coup that toppled the duly elected Kremlin-backed government of Viktor Yanukovych. Putin was concerned in 2014 of losing his Crimean naval base home to Ukraine’s Black Sea fleet. Zelensky knew that the Feb. 22, 2014 pro-Western coup upended decades of diplomacy with the West, ushering in a pro-Western Ukrainian government.
Biden and Ukraine’s 47-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky fabricated claims that Putin sought to reestablish on the old Soviet Union or Russian Empire, when, in fact, Putin wanted the U.S. to stop arming Ukraine with lethal weapons on his border. Much of the talk with two phone calls discussed how the U.S. and Russia could reestablish normal diplomatic relations, something that existed before Biden took office Jan. 20, 2021. Regardless of the Ukraine War, Biden had belligerent relations with Putin, once calling him a “murderous dictator,” March 18, 2021, the same day a U.S. delegation in Anchorage, Alaska accused 72-year-old Chinese President Xi Jinping of genocide against Muslim Uyghurs in Western China. Relations deteriorated with Russia and China under Biden, culminating in Biden funding the Ukraine proxy war.
EU officials like von der Leyen complained that Trump reversed the Biden policy pushed Europe and the world closer to WW III. President Trump made clear to the EU that he would restore normal diplomatic relations with the Kremlin, ending Biden’s hostile foreign policy. EU leaders like von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron would accept Trump’s decision as a positive move to promote peace on the European Continent. But instead of seeing Trump’s foreign policy with the Kremlin as a positive development, von der Leyen and Macron used it as an excuse to beef up European security. Peskov said more defense spending would not give the EU more security, only make it worse. But whatever message comes from the Kremlin, you’d think the EU would take Trump’s change of Kremlin policy seriously. Restoring normal relations with Russia promotes peace.
EU officials have taken Trump’s reversal of the Biden foreign policy exactly the wrong way, knowing the EU had much closer business ties in the past with Moscow. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel spent $12 billion building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline with Russia to supply Germany with cheap Russian natural gas into the foreseeable future. Former German Chancellor Olaf Scholz cancelled the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to join Biden’s economic sanctions against Russia for the Feb. 24, 2022 Ukraine invasion. Since Trump took over Jan. 20, he’s made clear to the EU that he was resetting normal U.S.-Russian relations. If Trump can get a peace deal with Putin, the EU would be well-advised to come up to speed and make its own peace overtures to the Kremlin. So far, only the same old war-like Biden talking points have come out of Brussels.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
