On Sun, 10 Nov 2024 19:32:08 +0100, Nostradamus wrote:
Ukraine-Krieg: Tusk plant Gespräche zur Ukraine-Unterstützung – ohne
Deutschland
Ukraine war: Tusk plans talks on Ukraine support - without
Germany
Poland's prime minister has announced talks with partner states to prepare
Europe's security policy for the Trump presidency.
He is apparently not planning to include Germany in this.
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk is launching a diplomatic offensive to
support Ukraine. He will soon meet French President Emmanuel Macron,
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and
leading politicians from the Nordic and Baltic states, Tusk said on
Saturday. The talks are to focus on transatlantic cooperation and the war
in Ukraine. He has not yet mentioned Germany.
With regard to the imminent start of Donald Trump's presidency in the USA,
Tusk said, according to the Reuters news agency, that there was "no doubt
that this new political landscape represents a serious challenge for
everyone", "especially in the context of a possible end to the Russian-
Ukrainian war as a result of an agreement, for example, between the
President of Russia and the new President of the United States". Tusk also
said that he believed there would be a statement "in the near future" on
the date of a possible ceasefire and on security guarantees for Ukraine.
This was reported by the Ukrainian-language service of the public
broadcaster Polskie Radio on Saturday. However, Tusk is said to have
stressed that such a plan is probably only in the preparatory phase. The
decisions would "certainly mean less US involvement in Ukrainian affairs",
said Tusk, according to Polskie Radio. Ukraine is heavily dependent on US
support in its defense against Russia, both militarily and financially.
Before his re-election, Trump had announced that he would end the war
within 24 hours if he became president again. However, he avoided the
question of whether he would maintain support for the country. Trump's
running mate J. D. Vance had stated that an agreement to end the war would
"probably" mean that Russia would keep the territories it had conquered in
Ukraine and that Kiev would give up its goal of joining NATO. Trump's
election is therefore causing concern in Kiev and other European capitals.
Observers in Kiev consider Trump's announced timetable to be pure
rhetoric. Many point to the complexity of the conflict and fear that Trump
could rely on a quick deal in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin
that would only last a short time and would be to the detriment of the
attacked Ukraine and its European neighbors. Europe should pay more
attention to security
The Ukrainian Nobel Peace Prize winner Oleksandra Matwijtschuk, for
example, emphasized in a conversation with Handelsblatt that complex
questions require complex answers. She also pointed out the danger that
Russia could regroup and attack again, even if it does not try to expand
for a while.
Accordingly, calls are mounting that Europe must finally advance security
on its own continent. Tusk is apparently reacting to this. In the "coming
days," he said, "we will coordinate cooperation very intensively with
countries that have a very similar view of the geopolitical and
transatlantic situation and the situation in Ukraine."
Germany does not appear to be one of them at the moment. He has not yet
mentioned Scholz or the Federal Republic publicly in connection with the
planned talks. Relations between Warsaw and Berlin have cooled after
initial confidence following Tusk's election as prime minister at the end
of 2023.
Scholz did not invite Tusk in October
Poland plays an important role in European security and defense policy
as well as within NATO. The country is the EU leader with defense spending
of over four percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and borders directly
on Ukraine. Nevertheless, Chancellor Olaf Scholz did not invite Tusk when
he
spoke about Ukraine with the current US President Biden, Macron and
Starmer in Berlin in mid-October.
Mujtaba Rahman, Europe director of the geopolitical think tank Eurasia
Group,
wrote that the Weimar Triangle, i.e. Germany, France and
Poland, should be "at the center of any EU/European response, but
Germany is making itself irrelevant."
The next presidential election will take place in Poland next May.
However, according to experts, support for Ukraine is not at stake. The
country's two major parties are "fully aware of the threat Putin's Russia
could pose to Poland in the future," said the deputy director of the state
research institute Mieroszewski Centre, Lukasz Adamski, on Saturday in
Kiev. "Therefore, Poland's military support for Ukraine is not in danger,"
said Adamski. Even before Donald Trump moved into the White House, unusual
formats of talks were emerging in the search for solutions to the war in
Ukraine, even beyond Tusk's initiative: On Wednesday, Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky publicly congratulated Trump. Later in the day, the two
spoke on the phone. It was also announced that tech billionaire Elon Musk
was also present at the talks on Trump's side. The constellation is seen
as a sign of Musk's future influence on Trump.