“Putin outsmarted Germans”
Trump confidant Grenell sees Kiev in NATO
April 12, 2024, 2:29 a.m
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Even during his time as US ambassador in Berlin, Richard Grenell was a sharp critic of Germany’s dependence on Russia. If Trump wins the election, the Republican could move into the State Department. He has two recipes for ending the Ukrainian war: peace talks and NATO membership.
The former US ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, defended the blockade of military aid to Ukraine by Republicans in Congress and called for a peace plan for Ukraine. “I believe that there was always an alternative to war. We have other tools in our toolbox,” said Grenell in the podcast of the media company Table Briefings. “The problem is that we have not seen a peace plan from the NATO countries. We have not seen a peace plan from America. We have not seen a peace plan from the Germans.”
Grenell is considered a candidate for US Secretary of State if Republican Donald Trump wins the US presidential election in November. Under Trump, Grenell was US ambassador in Berlin and was already a sharp critic of Germany’s Russia policy under Chancellor Angela Merkel.
At the same time, Grenell supported NATO membership for Ukraine. Membership and a peace plan must secure Ukraine as a sovereign state. “We have to talk about NATO membership. We have to talk about territorial integrity.” He counters German concerns that a possible President Trump would wind up NATO. “Trump has made NATO stronger. You cannot blame America or the Americans who are tired of bearing most of the burden. We should not admit new members to NATO who are unable to carry their 2 percent commitment to fulfill.” Nothing undermines NATO more than countries that cannot participate in a crisis.
“War cannot be solved on the battlefield”
The war was also a failure of diplomacy, Grenell further claimed. “I believe Anthony Blinken should have gotten on his plane, gotten the foreign ministers out of Europe, and tried to solve this problem before we went to war. We were warned multiple times that this war was coming, and the diplomats didn’t enough done.” Unlike the new Finnish president, he does not believe that the war can be solved on the battlefield. Grenell accused US President Joe Biden of failure and announced a peace initiative from a possible President Trump. He is a president “who has produced zero wars, and now we see that Joe Biden has produced three wars.” The American people benefit from Donald Trump.
The ambassador again criticized Germany for its previous policy towards Russia. “Putin outsmarted the Germans and convinced the German government and the German media that the Nord Stream II pipeline was a good thing,” Grenell said. “We believed that the Germans had made a serious mistake. They overstated their relations with Russia. We believed that they were feeding the monster.”
Grenell contradicted the fact that Trump supported the attack on the Capitol in January 2021 with his statements and behavior. “President Trump has been very clear that anyone who commits vandalism or breaks in should be prosecuted.” The ambassador also called the Republican narrative that Joe Biden’s election in 2020 was not the right thing to be plausible. “No reporter in America says there was no fraud. Now the reporters are saying there was no widespread fraud.” The numerous legal proceedings against Trump “didn’t worry him at all,” emphasized Grenell in the podcast.