Opinion
Ken Timmerman’s Threat Watch, www.kentimmerman.com 2-14-25
| When the Euros take offense at statements by U.S. officials, you know something must be going right. This week’s Munich security conference, an annual confab with our NATO partners, was full of verbal fireworks. First, you had the Europeans frothing at the mouth at the very thought that Donald Trump might actually talk to Vladimir Putin. Remember, Biden shunned the Russian leader, whom he called a cold-blooded murderer, for over three years, and most of the Euros were pleased. The EU’s top foreign policy official, former Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas, actually trotted out the Munich word: appeasement. That was her description of Trump’s phone call to Putin, which she said was “giving them [Russia] everything they want even before the negotiations have started.” Wrong. I was happy to see Ms. Kallas upbraided by Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, who described the European position as “to support killing as long as it takes.” “While President Donald Trump and President Putin negotiate on peace, EU officials issue worthless statements,” he added. My kind of guy. The Euros were also upset to hear the unvarnished truth from Pete Hegseth, now our Secretary of Defense. Pete told them its was “unrealistic” to talk of Ukraine joining NATO, and the Euros exploded. This one has always bemused me, it’s so obvious. The NATO charter prohibits extending membership to any country at war, and ceasefires don’t cut it. Ukraine has to have a negotiated peace with Russia before any thought can be given to NATO membership. That could be decades away, if ever. (Of course, what really irked them about Pete was his sheer masculinity, joining US grunts at 6 AM for PT — jogging, push-ups, and bench presses. None of the champagne-caviar crowd could even think of such a thing. Muscles? What’s that?) But the real skunk at the Euros garden party was Vice president JD Vance. He began with a lecture on the failed Biden policy in Ukraine – failure to actually arm Ukraine early on, failure to truly pressure Russia later – and then drove home Trump/s mantra about NATO members needing to contribute more to their own defense. But the real kicker was his speech to the conference. Instead of wonky details about missile defense, or nuclear deterrence (or the price of caviar), JD hit them where they were expecting it the least: in their hypocrisy. (You see, in Europe, hypocrisy is a vital organ, like the heart or the lungs. And he hit it hard). I loved Politico’s description of it. Vance “launched a blistering attack on European governments on Friday, chastising them for ignoring the will of their people, overturning elections, ignoring religious freedoms and not acting to halt illegal migration. “It was a U.S.-style MAGA, red meat speech that… hit on some recent hot button cultural issues, from abortion laws in Britain to the recent election in Romania.” This is the rag that until DOGE came along was being subsidized with tens of millions of US taxpayer dollars, disguised as subscriptions. Now they will have to work for a living like the rest of us. Oh, and JD’s criticism of Romania was because a court in November annulled its presidential election results on the pretext the winner had benefited from a “Russian-style” social media campaign when in fact the justices just didn’t like the conservative winner. Here is JD, telling it like it is: ““The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia. It’s not China, it’s not any other external actor. And what I worry about is the threat from within,” he said “The retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America…. “Shutting down media, shutting down elections … protects nothing. It is the most surefire way to destroy democracy … If you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you.” Trump and his team offered the Euros a reality sandwich, and after the first delicate nibble, they were appalled. I talk about this as well as the reckoning underway in Tehran by a regime seriously worried about its future, and the possibility of a joint US-Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, on this week’s Prophecy Today Weekend. As always, you can listen live at 1 PM on Saturday on 104.9 FM or 550 AM in the Jacksonville, Florida, area, or by using the Jacksonville Way Radio app. If you miss us live, you can listen to the podcast here. Yours in freedom, Ken |
| Ken Timmerman’s 14th book of non-fiction, THE IRAN HOUSE: Tales of Revolution, Persecution, War, and Intrigue, can be ordered by clicking here or by viewing my author’s page, here. Raising Olives in Provence, can be ordered by clicking here. – Senior Fellow, America First Policy Institute (current) – Republican nominee for Congress, Maryland District 8 (2012) – President & CEO, Foundation for Democracy in Iran, www.iran.org – Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2006 Cell: 904-817-8584 NEW NUMBER Follow me on Twitter @kentimmerman Facebook: ken timmerman New personal email: [email protected] Website: kentimmerman.com |
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The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida.
