In 2014, the Group of 8 kicked Russia out of its coalition of industrialized nations and rebranded as the Group of 7. Now, Donald Trump wants Vladimir Putin and Russia welcomed back into the G7.
Politics
The Group of 7 met this past weekend in Biarritz, France — only days after Trump publicly petitioned the G7 to ignore Russia’s aggression in Ukraine then blamed former President Obama for convincing the other nations to kick Russia out of the fold.
“I think it’s much more appropriate to have Russia in,” Trump told reporters prior to meeting with President Klaus Iohannis of Romania. “I could certainly see it being the G8 again.”
“I guess President Obama, because Putin outsmarted him, President Obama thought it wasn’t a good thing to have Russia in. So he wanted Russia out.” – Donald Trump
Apparently, Trump has turned a blind eye to the bloody massacre his boyfriend, Vladimir Putin, instigated in Crimea. According to the United Nations, 13,000 lives have been lost since Russia’s invasion 5 years ago.
Former United States ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer said he could envision a Russian return to the annual meetings, but only if Russia earns its readmission by helping bring peace to Ukraine.
Pifer added that although it would be beneficial to the world for a new U.S.-Russia relationship,” Donald Trump somehow seems to miss the point of Russia’s need to make atonement.
“He never seems to suggest that Russia has to make some changes to its policies to get to that point,” Pifer said.
With no real punishment from the Mueller investigation and no impeachment proceedings from Congress on the horizon, Donald Trump appears to no longer feel a need to hide his affection for Putin and his affinity for Russia. In fact, doing Putin’s bidding and tooting Russia’s horn to the G7 nations wasn’t even a bold move for ‘The Donald.’ For many, it was expected.
Tensions between Trump and other world leaders appeared to be escalated, particularly regarding the US trade war with China. However, in true form, ‘The Donald’ denied any hint of bitterness.
“Before I arrived in France, the Fake and Disgusting News was saying that relations with the 6 others countries in the G-7 are very tense, and that the two days of meetings will be a disaster,” Trump said. But, “we are having very good meetings, the Leaders are getting along very well, and our country, economically, is doing great – the talk of the world!” he added.
Nevertheless, despite Trump’s pleas on Putin’s behalf, don’t expect to see the G7 back to the G8 anytime soon. As President Emmanual Macron of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany each made crystal clear to ‘The Donald’ over the weekend, any discussion of Russia’s reinstatement in the G8 requires movement by Moscow out of Ukraine.
Or, in the words of former NATO Deputy Secretary General and US ambassador to Russia, Alexander Vershbow: “Trump may be indifferent to Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and Kyiv’s freedom to pursue its Euro-Atlantic aspirations, but members of his administration and the Congress will hopefully continue to check his inclination to throw Ukraine under the bus for the sake of an empty partnership with his friend Putin.”
So this is timely……… Excerpt: President Donald Trump is absurd. His presidency is absurd. His party is absurd. We have known this ever since that absurd journey down an escalator, and the surrealism has only intensified since. Perhaps it takes a sane foreigner, not subject to years of almost hourly Trump abuse, to point out the obvious. We have no Executive branch in any meaningful or serious sense. We have a joke that’s wearing thinner by the day. There is no institution or company in America, small or large, that would allow Donald Trump to run or represent it for more than a few days — because most sane institutions see immediately that a rape-y racist with no knowledge base or capacity to learn is an embarrassment, and a huge liability. If appointed the head of, say, a local library on January 20, 2017, Trump would have been fired by… Read more »