I Asked, Trump Answered

When the Zhou regime announced that it was dangerously close to running out of conventional munitions and so would send cluster munitions to Ukraine for use in America’s war on Russia, I asked: Where is Trump? Trump has responded.

This could turn out to be a huge story—not just for today but for the 2024 campaign. President Trump has denounced Zhou for sending cluster munitions to Ukraine. Implicitly, this is also a condemnation of the bipartisan War Party and its corrupt alliance with the Military Industrial Complex (MIC). This sets the stage for a War and Peace election. Further, if the Ruling Class finds the nerve to bail out of Ukraine, Trump retains the ability to turn the election into a referendum on the Big Screwup that the War on Russia is. I believe this is a winning strategy that will energize the conservative base as well as reach out to elements of the Dem base. It could amount to a Third Party run, without a Third Party.

Here, courtesy of CTH, is Trump’s statement:

Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States

July 11, 2023

Joe Biden should not be dragging us further toward World War III by sending cluster munitions to Ukraine—he should be trying to END the war and stop the horrific death and destruction being caused by an incompetent administration. These unexploded cluster munitions will be killing and maiming innocent Ukrainian men, women, and children for decades to come, long after the war—we pray—has ended. If, as Biden inadvertently admitted, the reason for sending cluster bombs now is that the United States is “running out of ammunition” (a great breach of classified information), that only further emphasizes the urgency of immediately deescalating this bloody, dangerous, and out of control conflict. It certainly means we should not be sending Ukraine our last stockpiles at a time when our own arsenals, according to Crooked Joe Biden, are so perilously diminished.

There could be no more vivid proof that Joe Biden’s policy of endless war in Ukraine has tremendously weakened the United States than the humiliating admission that the USA is now out of ammo, something our enemies are undoubtedly salivating over. This "admitted" weakness is an invitation to enemies all over the world. Joe Biden is needlessly and dangerously leading us into World War III, which would be a nightmare beyond imagination—obliteration!

We must stop this insanity, immediately end the bloodshed in Ukraine, and return to a focus on America’s vital interests. Most importantly, we must completely rebuild our depleted military so it is once again so strong—like it was just 3 years ago when I rebuilt it—that no nation would even think of threatening our people. We must have "PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH" and in a short time, the Presidential election of 2024 will produce that result.

The timing of this announcement probably could not have been better. It comes as NATO, as an organization, is back peddling and as France and Britain may be setting themselves up to bear the brunt of a Russia escalation.

Moon of Alabama covers the first point:

NATO's Big Climb Down

Basically, NATO is saying that Ukraine has to win our war first before NATO membership will be considered. Even then, unspecified “conditions” will have to be met. Zelensky may be a clown, but he understood what was going on, and he squawked loudly.

Separately, Larry Johnson maintains that the Franco-British move to provide more long range missiles to Ukraine could be setting themselves up for unpleasant blowback—I provide excerpts focusing on this issue from the longer article:

THE WAR IN UKRAINE SHIFTS DECISIVELY IN RUSSIA’S FAVOR

However, France and the United Kingdom, acting independently of NATO, made a foolish and dangerous promise — they are going to provide Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles that can strike inside Russian territory. We have reached the point in this war where the West is struggling to come to grips with the fact that its gift of tanks and weapons to Ukraine have been a total bust and panic is setting in.

…

I anticipate that Russia will intensify its attacks on Ukrainian positions at key locations along the 800 mile line of contact in the next two weeks. … Ukraine’s military grows weaker with each fruitless attack.

I agree with Andrei that the promised escalation by France and the U.K. is likely to provoke a Russian response. It is one thing to covertly provide more sophisticated lethal weaponry to Ukraine. Recall that the Soviets did it to the Americans in Vietnam and that the United States did it to the Soviets in Afghanistan. Both the Americans and the Russians quietly agreed to live with those actions without risking escalation into a direct conflict. They continued to have normal diplomatic contacts and negotiated arms control agreements in spite of the covert proxy wars. Each side knew what the other was doing but each side also took steps to try to hide their actions.

What France and the U.K are proposing is an open provocation and, if carried out, represents a direct attack on Russia. Putin and members of his national security team have signaled clearly that there will be a response. This means we are entering a very dangerous phase in this war because the frantic desperation of the West is leading it to entertain military operations that will elicit retaliation. Russia is not going to consent to being a punching bag. At some point I anticipate that Putin will order the Russian military to start shooting down sophisticated U.S. and NATO ISR drones and disrupt, if not eliminate, the Elon Musk’s Starlink network. Russia also is likely to attack and destroy Joint and Tactical Operation Centers in Ukraine as part of its overall effort to degrade Ukraines ability to carry out offensive operations.

Russia reportedly hit Odessa’s port yesterday (Monday) with a missile strike as a prelude for ending the grain deal and asserting its control of the Black Sea. That will be a blow to Ukraine and Turkey and there is little the West can do in response without creating a casus belli for Russia to hit targets where NATO advisers are located.

Trump is placing himself out front.