Putin Understands Only 3 Things According to Mike Pompeo Who Advocates Unlimited US Military Aid to Ukraine.
These three things are power, empowerment, and strength.
It is a small sentence, dropped in a small media, but which made a lot of noise. Very big noise indeed. “I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they're not going to write a blank check to Ukraine.” House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy told Punchbow News - an online news site created by former Politico staffers - last week.
This was a way of saying that if his side wins the Midterms on November 8, 2022, America's support for Ukraine would no longer be guaranteed. This statement shocked Kyiv, delighted Moscow, and created quite a mess in Washington.
Mitch McConnell, his Republican counterpart in the Senate, has distanced himself from the elected representative of California. And he is not the only one.
Mike Pompeo, 58, Donald Trump's former foreign minister from 2018 to 2021 and ex-CIA boss from 2017 to 2018, is also keen to point out that not all Republicans think like McCarthy, whose rhetoric is aligned with the Trumpist far right.
“To stop Putin, we need to do the opposite of what McCarthy says,” Pompeo says. “The United States must provide Ukraine with all the armaments it needs and for as long as it wants: more equipment of all kinds, more long-range artillery, more precision-guided missiles!” hammers the former secretary of state, who may well be preparing his own 2024 presidential bid (unless he is a vice presidential candidate if the Trumpian electoral dynamic kicks in - at this point, all scenarios are open).
“The goal,” he continues, “must be the elimination of all Russian positions in Ukraine. This is the only way to discourage Moscow and reduce its leverage in the region.”
As for a change in doctrine after the Midterms, Pompeo does not believe in it: “America will continue to defend freedom in Ukraine because Americans understand the imperative need to help this country. Our fellow Americans know that this war is about them. When democracy is at stake, the United States always responds.”
Alas, Mike Pompeo's strong words are not enough to fully reassure Volodymyr Zelensky and his European allies. Because after the Midterms looms the presidential election of 2024, in which Donald Trump could participate and ... win. “By then, Putin will have been driven from power,” Pompeo hopes, not forgetting, in passing, to tackle the Democratic camp: “Remember that Crimea was annexed under Barack Obama. And that, when we were in power, Putin annexed exactly zero millimeters of additional Ukrainian territory. By contrast, as soon as the Democrats returned to power, the Kremlin leader resumed his march on Europe ...”
In other words, Pompeo believes that the Democrats do not know how to handle the rhetoric of deterrence. According to him, the Republicans are, on the contrary, the experts, following the Madman theory dear to his predecessor Henry Kissinger, who was Secretary of State from 1973 to 1977. According to Kissinger, President Richard Nixon's unpredictable behavior combined with his enormous capacity for destruction was the best deterrent.
Mike Pompeo continued:
“If the Biden administration and NATO had spoken with a louder voice, we would not be in this position. The Democratic administration has been too slow. It wasted too much time in the beginning. That allowed Vladimir Putin to get organized. When in September 2021, the Kremlin's intentions became clear, the Biden administration did nothing, said nothing. The Kremlin should have been informed of the price to be paid. The Europeans should also have spoken clearly. To stop Putin, we had to instill in his mind the notion that venturing into Ukraine would be too great a risk.”
So how do we deter the Russian dictator today from using chemical or nuclear weapons?
“I hope the Biden administration has done the work of personally presenting the Kremlin leader, privately and confidentially, with the list of consequences he would suffer if he crossed the red line,” Pompeo replied. “Everyone needs to know, and he needs to know first, that NATO and the United States have the means to make him and those around him pay a huge price.”
Mike Pompeo, who has metamorphosed by losing 40 kilos in six months starting in January 2021, prides himself on knowing how to talk to Putin man-to-man. “I spent quite a bit of time with him one-on-one. He is an evil but insightful person who has made a huge strategic miscalculation for his country. In any case, Putin understands three things above all: power, empowerment, and strength. It is by force that we must demonstrate to him that his risk-taking in Ukraine puts him in danger. We must be very firm. We've worked with that principle under the Trump presidency for four years. And it is this principle, too, that Europe should have followed instead of going around in circles wondering how not to irritate the master of the Kremlin,” says the American.
And what applies to Vladimir Putin is valid for Xi Jinping, continues the former Secretary of State:
“To prevent a Chinese dictatorship from one day settling in Taiwan, it is necessary to give the latter the necessary armament so that it remains sovereign. It is also necessary to consolidate alliances and strengthen economic ties between, on the one hand, this large island and, on the other hand, America, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and other countries in the region. The goal is for Xi Jinping to conclude on his own that military intervention would be bad for him,” says Mike Pompeo, who will publish his memoirs in January 2023.
The title of his autobiography? Never Give an Inch ...
Some reading
After the MAGA Conservatives, Progressives Are Now Questioning America’s Aid to Ukraine. 30 lawmakers belonging to the left wing of the Democratic Party published an open letter to Joe Biden questioning the unlimited American aid to Ukraine.
America’s Unwavering Support for Ukraine at Risk If the Republicans Win the Midterms. Donald Trump is once again trying to do Vladimir Putin a favor under the table.
5 Key Questions for the Midterms. Inflation or Democracy? What will the Americans prefer on November 8, 2022?
The Unknown Story of Vasily Arkhipov, the Man Who Saved the World From a Nuclear War in 1962. Alone, he prevented the USSR from attacking the United States during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.
The World Is Entering Its Most Dangerous Decade Since WWII, According to Putin, Who Blames the West. Putin continues to want to inscribe his odious war in Ukraine as a battle of the emerging nations against the West. An umpteenth lie.