Good ideas all around!
Macron hints at troops in Ukraine, but EU has bigger issues
Emmanuel Macron has set the cat among the pigeons once again. Known for proclivity to provoke debate among EU and NATO allies, the centrist French president raised eyebrows by taking aim at a long-standing taboo in the war in Ukraine: the prospect of deploying Western troops.
“There is no consensus today to send ground troops… [but] nothing should be ruled out,” Macron said at a gathering of Ukraine’s allies in Paris last week, convened amid worrying signs and reported ammunition shortages from the front line of fighting with Russia.
Germany, Spain, Italy, the UK, Poland, NATO and the European Commission all underlined that they had no plans to send ground troops to Ukraine – a long-standing red line, as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pointed out, because of the risk of dangerous escalation and direct confrontation with Russia.
Macron was yapping about the new red line being if Russia “approaches” either Odesa or Kiev it would mean French troops going to Ukraine. And Poland, eh?
Poland’s foreign minister says the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine is ‘not unthinkable’
Poland’s foreign minister says the presence of NATO forces “is not unthinkable” and that he appreciates the French president for not ruling out that idea.
Radek Sikorski made the observation during a discussion marking the 25th anniversary of Poland’s NATO membership in the Polish parliament on Friday, and the Foreign Ministry tweeted the comments later in English. (snip)
The Kremlin has warned that if NATO sends combat troops, a direct conflict between the alliance and Russia would be inevitable. Russian President Vladimir Putin said such a move would risk a global nuclear conflict.
Poland’s PM Donald Tusk has uncategorically stated that Poland will not be sending troops to Ukraine, but, it doesn’t help when high ranking government yammering about the possibility of troops in Ukraine. This isn’t the Cold War, and Ukraine is not worth WWIII.
And if Biden wins re-election, or looks like he’s going to lose badly, who knows what he will do.
Read: WWIII Watch: French President, Poland Minister Yammer About NATO Troops In Ukraine »