LOS ANGELES.–Speaking with 78-year-old President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, 69-year-old German Chancellor Friedrich Merz took a deferential tone, far different from interviews given in the European Union about backing the Ukraine War. Merz actually asked Trump, just like the fake news, whether he was on Ukraine’s side in the war. Merz is well-aware that former President Joe Biden funded proxy war in Ukraine with the Kremlin since Feb. 24, 2022. Merz finds himself backing Ukraine but not knowing how much the EU can count on Trump continuing to fund the Ukraine War. Trump told Merz that he’s for ending the Ukraine War, brining the conflict to the peace table even if it means Ukraine must make compromises to end the over three-year conflict. Merz is part of the EU bubble that thinks Putin has his sights set on other EU countries.
Merz points to Russia spending more of this GDP on military spending, some 25% more than the year before, causing alarm in some EU circles. Former Soviet satellites and Poland fear that Russia wants to take more European territory, not realizing the Ukraine is not part of Europe, it’s historically part of Russia. “They clearly have no idea what is happening there right now,” Merz said after talking with some U.S. senators about Putin increasing military spending. Merz knows that the EU has pitted itself against the Russian Federation in its support for Ukraine, prompting Putin to increase defense spending. Merz pointed out how Russia has gone into 24/7 defense production, plus making arms deals with Iran and North Korea. Well, Merz must face the fact that if the EU pits itself against the Kremlin, he can expect Russia to continue arming itself.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has never said to anyone that he wants to take more European territory. Yet Merz and the rest of the EU is somehow convinced that’s his intention. Where did they hear that from? They hear that daily from Ukraine’s 47-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky, the chief smoke blower who continues to bamboozle the EU into defending Ukraine. Merz should know better than he doesn’t need to lecture Trump about backing Ukraine. U.S. has given Zelensky’s Kiev government over $300 billion to pay for his bankrupt government and war with Russia. Trump is focused on ending the Ukraine War, not listening to Zelensky argue that Putin wants to take over more European countries. Putin told the EU that he’s engaged in “special military operation” to defuse Ukraine excessive arms from the U.S. and NATO.
Showing the kind of propaganda that permeates the EU, Merz asked Trump if he had plans to pull out of NATO. Where would Merz possibly hear such a thing, other than listening to Zelensky’s unending propaganda, giving every reason why the EU should fund the Ukraine War? Trump said an emphatic “yes” when asked whether he still supported NATO. What kind of propaganda circulates in the EU to think that Trump wants to pull out of NATO? Or, listening to Zelensky, that Putin wants to take more European territory. Whether admitted to or not, Biden provoked the Ukraine War by arming Ukraine to the teeth against Kremlin objections, rejecting all of Putin’s offers to discuss new security arrangements for Ukraine. What did the U.S. or EU think Putin would do? Just let Biden continue to arm Ukraine with lethal offensive weapons to eventually attack the Russian Federation?
Trump wants all NATO countries to pay more of their fair share, he suggests at 5% of GDP for defense spending. Whether that’s feasible or not for most EU countries is anyone’s guess. But certainly Merz shouldn’t be surprised that Trump still backs NATO. What other than the most twisted propaganda would tell them otherwise. With Zelensky spouting constant propaganda, the EU has no clue what’s real and what’s fake. No one should trust a word coming out of Zelensky’s mouth. He wants a new funding source to keep the war going, so he doesn’t have to admit how much land he’s lost to the Kremlin. Now he expects the EU to oppose any attempt to settle the war by trading land for peace. Zelensky wants all the land he lost in three years of war with the Kremlin. Putin wants to claim his spoils of war before he agrees to a ceasefire and peace talks.
Merz agrees that for the foreseeable future the EU needs the U.S. for its defense umbrella especially from encroachment by the Russian Federation. “Whether we like it or not, we will remain dependent on the United States,” Merz said after meeting with Trump. Merz was surprised to learn that Trump emphatically backs the NATO alliance. Where, other than Zelensky, has Merz heard that Trump doesn’t back NATO? Zelensky told the Munich Security Conference that Trump isn’t concerned about European Security. Yet it was Trump that spearheaded the peace effort to prevent a wider escalation of the Ukraine War to WW III or possibly nuclear war on the European Continent. Merz has been fed a line of goods by Zelensky trying to get the EU to pay for his war with Russia. Merz needs to go back to the EU and tell them they should trust Trump to end the war.
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.
