Tag: donald trump

Poland Revives ‘Fort Trump’ Idea In Effort To Keep US Troop Presence

Poland is reviving the idea of creating a large military base called “Fort Trump” as European allies walk a diplomatic tightrope with the Trump administration as he pushes for Ukraine peace without their representation.

The country’s President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday revealed that assurances have been communicated from the Trump White House over the future of America’s troop presence in Poland. There are no plans for a US troop reduction along NATO’s ‘eastern flank’ – he was told.

Trump and his top national security officials have been pushing hard for Europe to do more to bolster its own security, instead of relying on Washington dollars and deployments.

Duda addressed this in Tuesday comments as follows: “There are no concerns that the U.S. would reduce the level of its presence in our country, that the U.S. would in any way withdraw from its responsibility or co-responsibility for the security of this part of Europe.”

“On the contrary, I hope that thanks to the efforts that President Trump is currently making, the war in Ukraine will end,” he continued, immediately following a meeting in Warsaw with Gen. Keith Kellogg, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.

“I will say that in my personal opinion, America has entered the game very strongly when it comes to ending the war in Ukraine. I know President Donald Trump, I know that he is an extremely decisive man and when he acts, he acts in a very determined and usually effective way,” Duda said, praising the longtime friend of his. The two appeared to be close during Trump’s first administration.

Washington initially deployed and bolstered Pentagon forces in Poland following Crimea being annexed by Russia in 2014, which was the result of a popular referendum among the population.

International reports commonly estimate there are some 10,000 American troops in Poland. The Associated Press quoted Duda as expressing hope for an increase in troops, especially if Poland follows through on the prior Fort Trump idea:

Duda said Hegseth told him “that we can rather expect a strengthening of the American presence here. We even talked about the fact that I hope that Fort Trump, which we talked about during the first term of President Donald Trump, will really be established.”

Duda had first spoken publicly on this when he visited the White House in 2018, though the military outpost was never established.

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Trump Blames Ukraine: What The New York Times Gets Right and What The New York Times Gets Wrong

On February 18, for the first time since the war in Ukraine began, high ranking U.S. and Russian officials met to begin talks on ending the war. The U.S. delegation included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s envoy to the Middle East and a favorite negotiator Steve Witkoff and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. The Russian delegation included Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy advisor, Yury Ushakov.

Following the meeting, U.S. President Donald Trump stunned reporters at a press conference by blaming Ukraine, and not Russia, for the war in what The New York Times called “Trump’s Pivot Toward Putin’s Russia.” In its cross examination of Trump’s case, The Times gets some things very right. But they got some things very wrong.

As he walked out of the talks, Sergey Lavrov said, “We weren’t just listening to each other, but we heard each other. I have reason to believe that the American side started to better understand our positions.”

The position that the American side seems to have better understood is the Russian narrative that the war did not start on February 24, 2022 and that Russia did not start it. Russia has long insisted that the war began with the U.S. supported coup of 2014 and the failure to protect the linguistic, religious and cultural rights of the ethnic Russian Ukrainian citizens who felt abandoned and threatened by that coup.

Lavrov has consistently argued that Russia is not demanding preconditions but that they are demanding that the West fulfil its previous agreement not to expand NATO eastward to Russia’s border and its previous commitment to settle the crisis in Ukraine based on the UN Charter that stipulates the principle of equal rights and self-determination. The first was broken with the promise that Ukraine was on an irreversible path to NATO; the second was broken with Kiev’s “extermination of everything Russian, including language, mass media, culture, and even the use of the Russian language in everyday life.” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to this narrative that the Americans now “better understand,” was intended to prevent the first and protect the second.

So, The New York Times complains that “[a]s far as Mr. Trump is concerned, Russia is not responsible for the war that has devastated its neighbor. Instead, he suggests that Ukraine is to blame for Russia’s invasion of it.” Following the meeting of the American and Russian delegations, The Times complains that “American officials did not dwell on Russia’s violation of international law in attacking Ukraine.”

About this, The Times is right. Trump is wrong more for what he did not say than for what he did. “By contrast,” The Times says, “Mr. Trump uttered not one word of reproach for Mr. Putin or for Russia.” Putin is to blame for the illegal invasion of Ukraine, and the discussions on ending the war must put this on the record and address it, at least in security guarantees for Ukraine.

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Greenlandic Grievances With Denmark and Trump’s Annexation Plan

One of my favorite places on Earth, Greenland, has suddenly become the center of worldwide attention as US President Donald Trump reiterated his 2019 proposal that the US should do whatever it takes to acquire Greenland from Denmark.  Trump’s interest stems from Greenland’s strategic location between the US and Russia, its large untapped deposits of oil, uranium, and rare earth minerals, and its control over Arctic trade routes, particularly the Northwest Passage, which is becoming increasingly navigable as Arctic sea ice disappears.

Trump’s 2019  attempt to buy Greenland outright (or even to trade Puerto Rico for it) was widely dismissed as a joke in both Washington and Copenhagen, but Trump clearly hasn’t let go of the idea, leading House Republican Andy Ogles to introduce the “Make Greenland Great Again Act.”

This renewed geopolitical focus on Greenland is deeply personal. As a human geneticist focused on the study of small, isolated populations, I have spent years researching the relationships between genetics, environment and health in Arctic populations. My experiences in the Arctic, as well as my ability to speak Kalaallisut, has given me insight into how Greenlanders themselves view their place in the world – perspectives often missing from outside analyses.

Because of my familiarity with the region, I knew immediately that Trump’s proposal would provoke a strong reaction in Greenland, where political leaders and everyday people alike see independence, not recolonization by the US, as their future. Múte B. Egede, the head of Greenland’s government Cabinet of Ministers, the Naalakkersuisut, was blunt: “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders. We are not and will never be for sale.” But he also acknowledged that Greenland’s economic future must involve more international partners, saying, “We remain open to cooperation and trade with our international partners… Not everything can be through Denmark.”

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Zelensky Could Be Ousted As Trump Demands Ukraine Election

There are concerns that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could be ousted from office after President Donald Trump said that Kyiv should hold elections, according to British newspaper The Telegraph.

Newsweek has reached out to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine for comment via email.

Why It Matters

Zelensky was made Time Magazine’s person of the year in 2022 for his “success as a wartime leader” and has been lauded as the face of Ukrainian resistance to Russia’s invasion. His exit from office could drastically change the outcome of the war and the achievement of security guarantees for Ukraine.

Ukraine hosting an election also raises the concern that Russia could interfere in the poll and install a pro-Kremlin leader who would be more amenable to Moscow’s terms to end the war.

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Trump Calls Zelensky a ‘Dictator’ Who Has Done a ‘Terrible Job’

On Wednesday, President Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” who has done a “terrible job” as the two leaders are trading barbs amid renewed US diplomacy with Russia.

“Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the US and ‘TRUMP,’ will never be able to settle,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The post came after Zelensky said Trump was living in a “disinformation space” in response to his criticism of Ukraine not holding elections and for not reaching a deal with Russia earlier in the war or before the invasion. “I would like to have more truth with the Trump team,” Zelensky said.

Trump also brought up the lack of elections in Ukraine in his post on Truth Social. “On top of this, Zelenskyy admits that half of the money we sent him is ‘MISSING.’ He refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden ‘like a fiddle.’ A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” he said.

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Putin Ready to Speak With Zelensky Who Now Claims Trump Spews Russian Disinformation

On Wednesday Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he is and always has been ready for peace discussions with Ukraine. He stressed it has been Ukraine which outlawed peace negotiations with Russia. Ukrainian ruler Vladimir Zelensky however believes that the U.S. President Donald Trump, who has orchestrated peace negotiations with Russia, is spewing out Russian disinformation.

“I’ve said this 100 times, if they are willing, they are free to engage in such talks,” Putin said Wednesday. “We are ready to go back to the negotiating table.”

The door to end the war has always been open, this is even something President Trump referenced on Tuesday.

“When they’re worried about not being seated [at the peace negotiations] you mean somebody who should have gone in and made a deal a long time ago,” Trump said Tuesday.

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Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump’s Firing of CIA Officers Involved in DEI Programs

Judge Anthony J. Trenga, an appointee of George W. Bush, has temporarily blocked President Trump’s move to clean house in the intelligence community—specifically targeting agents involved in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives that have compromised national security in favor of leftist ideology.

This ruling comes after a group of anonymous intelligence officers, who had been temporarily reassigned to roles implementing controversial Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) programs, have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the CIA.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, names ODNI, the CIA, and their respective heads—Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe—as defendants.

The plaintiffs, identified as “John Does 1-6” and “Jane Does 1-5,” claim they are being unfairly targeted simply for their prior assignments to DEIA programs.

However, conservatives see it differently. President Trump’s Executive Order 14151, signed on his first day back in office, decisively dismantled DEIA offices across the federal government, branding them “illegal and immoral.”

The order made it clear that radical left-wing hiring practices, which prioritized identity over merit, had no place in a serious government, especially in agencies tasked with protecting American national security.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim they were placed on administrative leave “without cause” and fear imminent termination.

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Russia Has Offered Trump A Deal – Includes Oil And Access To Arctic – Moscow Could Scale Back With Beijing

In a potential bargaining move, the Kremlin may offer Trump that Moscow is willing to scale back its ties with China in exchange for concessions from Washington, reported The Moscow Times.

Russia believes that American oil companies may return to the country, and is also interested in joint projects with the United States in the Arctic, Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said before the talks in Saudi Arabia, reported The Moscow Times.

According to Dmitriev, one of three delegates selected by Vladimir Putin to meet with the Americans in Riyadh, Moscow considers it important to resume economic cooperation with the United States.

Major oil companies from the United States had “very successful business ” in Russia, Dmitriev said: “We believe that at some point they will return, because why would they refuse the opportunity to access Russian natural resources that Russia gave them? ”

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Trump’s USDA Exploring Federal Solution to Ban China from Buying US Farmland

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Secretary Brooke Rollins, is considering federal action to prevent Chinese entities from purchasing American farmland after the Texas House failed to pass a state-level ban last session.

In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, Rollins confirmed that the Trump administration is actively looking at ways to address the issue at the federal level.

“One of the very, very top of the list perhaps is the Chinese purchase of our farmland. A lot of that land is around some of our military outposts,” Rollins told Breitbart News. “So we’re in a really, really important conversation right now on how to push that back. With my experience in the states, I am a huge, huge believer in the laboratories of democracy—the 10th Amendment says our states are the guardians at the gate—and for the last several years my organization America First Policy Institute, we actually worked among multiple states to get states to act on this to pass state legislation but we also are looking at a federal solution too.”

The issue of Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland has sparked growing concerns over national security, particularly in states like Texas, where large swaths of agricultural and rural land have been bought by Chinese companies and individuals. Senators in Texas passed a ban on such purchases in 2023, but the effort ultimately failed in the Texas House amid opposition from Democrat lawmakers and some Republicans.

A ban on hostile foreign land ownership has been named a priority by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick for this session.

With Texas failing to act, federal intervention could reshape the debate entirely. Republican lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, have been pushing for national legislation to address what they call a “serious national security risk.”

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Trump and DOGE Want To Cut Waste? This Upcoming Test Launch of a Nuclear Missile Is All Waste – and Dangerous Folly

At a press conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on last Thursday, President Trump once again reiterated his desire to cut military spending. He stated that the United States, Russia, and China should reduce their “defense” budgets in order to focus on more productive things.

“It doesn’t really make sense, does it? We’re spending the money against each other and we could spend that money for better purposes if we get along,” Trump said. “And I’ll tell you, I think that something like that will happen.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a town hall with troops at the Pentagon, also hinted at military program cuts. And Trump says DOGE will look at the Pentagon.

Trump was more specific when discussing nuclear weapons. “There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons. We already have so many you could destroy the world 50 times over or 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and [Russia] is building new nuclear weapons, and China is building new nuclear weapons.”

Trump is right about the danger of nuclear weapons. (However, during his first presidency, he withdrew the U.S. from the vital Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces and Open Skies treaties.) If he is serious at all about his supposed goal of cutting military spending, “getting along” with Russia and China, and not wanting to build new nuclear weapons, a very effective way to achieve all three would be to eliminate intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) right now.

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