Landing in Warsaw before the July 7-8 G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, 71-year-old President Donald Trump arrived in Poland with open arms, unlike some of his European Union counterparts. EU officials didn’t like Trump’s backing for the U.K.’s June 23, 2016 Brexit vote, where British citizens opted out of the European Union. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose re-election to a third six-year term as Chancellor is all but certain for Sept. 24, bristles at Trump’s attitude toward the EU. Trump complains about Germany’s $65 billion trade surplus, selling more than double products to the U.S. than any other exporting country, including Japan and South Korea. Merkel has said she won’t relent on Germany’s trade surplus with the U.S. or the EU-backed 2016 Paris Climate Agreement that Trump bailed out on June 1. Trump finds himself in far friendlier territory in Warsaw.
Trump criticized Merkel for her pro-immigrant policies, taking nearly 1 million Mideast and North African refugees in 2016. When terrorists struck Berlin Dec. 19, 2016, Trump ripped into Merkel’s stand, illustrating what’s wrong with her pro-immigrant policies. Trump was especially critical of Merkel for backing the Saudi-funded proxy war in against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Merkel backed a policy over the last seven years resulting in the deaths of over 300,000 Syrians, driving 12 million more into exile in neighboring countries and Europe. Trump disagreed strongly with former President Barack Obama’s policy of supporting various rebel groups to topple al-Assad. Trump received considerable flack for agreeing with Russian President Vladimir Putin that it’s preferable for al-Assad to remain in power to prevent another Iraq-like power vacuum.
Meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Trump finds a comrade-in-arms, firmly opposed to Merkel’s immigration policies. One of the safest countries in the EU, Duda wants to keep it that way, refusing to accept Merkel’s pressure to accept Mideast or North African refugees. When Trump met with NATO leaders in Brussels May 21, he complained about the inequitable participation in defense spending, asking NATO members to increase defense budgets. Poland has no problem paying their fair share for NATO defense, sitting on the Russian border. Poland was horrified when Russian President Vladimir Putin marched the Russian Army into Crimea March 1, 2014, seizing Ukrainian territory, giving military support to pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region of Southeastern Ukraine. Worried that Putin could roll into Poland, Duda asked for U.S. troops and missile defense.
Poland views Trump much like President Ronald Reagan, considered a hero for standing up to the Soviet Union. Poland recalls well the days when Russian puppet Gen. Wojciech Jaruzekski ruled Poland, mowing down Solidarity protesters in the Gdansk shipyard in 1970. Poland lived under the Russian threat for years until the Soviet Union disbanded in Dec. 22, 1991. Putin’s seizure of Crimea opened up renewed fears in Poland and the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, all three former Soviet satellites. “He [Trump] will lay out a vision not only for America’s future relationship with Europe, but the future of our trans-Atlantic alliance, and what that means for American security and American prosperity,” said National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster. Enjoying a $65 billion trade surplus with U.S., Merkel shows no signs of leveling the playing field.
When Trump joins the G20 in Hamburg, all eyes will be on Trump’s first meeting with Putin. Trump’s been accused of collaborating with Putin by Democrats and the U.S. press, without any proof, making resetting U.S.-Rusian relations next to impossible. With North Korea launching an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile [ICBM], the U.S. can no longer afford to have anti-Russian members of Congress interfere with U.S.-Russian relations. Trump must finally fulfill his campaign promise to improve U.S.-Russian relations to help the U.S. deal with emerging threats from North Korea. Looking to China hasn’t helped contain a growing North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile threat. Improving relations with Russia, it’s possible for Putin to apply pressure on Pyongyang to stop nuclear threats against the U.S. Resetting U.S.-Russian relations would improve U.S. national security.
Threatening nuclear war against the U.S., Trump no longer has the same luxury as former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who kicked the North Korea can down the road. With North Korea’s 33-year-old dictator Kim Jong-un feverishly pursuing nukes and ballistic missiles, time is running out on a diplomatic solution. Pentagon officials know the long-term risks of Kim getting his hands on a nuclear-tipped ICBM, hitting U.S. bases in Alaska or the homeland. Starting in Poland, Trump will get all the support he needs to stress the NATO alliance, and, at the same time, work with Putin on resetting U.S.-Russian relations. However Russia meddled in the 2016 election, it’s small potatoes compared to North Korea’s clear-and-present-danger. If improving relations with Putin can mitigate that threat, then making some minor concessions to Russia should be well worth it.
