Trump idolizes Putin, just like part of his Republican Party
There are few people in the world who openly admire Donald Trump. Vladimir Putin is one of them. ‘Genius’, he called Putin’s performance in the conflict on Tuesday in a conservative radio program: ‘Putin declares a large part of Ukraine independent, which is fantastic.’ Trump called Putin “tough” and a “patriot”. While US President Joe Biden does what he can to prevent a war between Russia and Ukraine, his predecessor pontifically stands behind the enemy.
This is not strange: Donald Trump has never hidden his love for Putin. The same goes for Trump’s supporters. “Why do the Democrats want you to hate Putin?” Tucker Carlson wondered on his show on Fox News Tuesday night. Did Putin move all the middle-class jobs in your hometown to Russia? Is he teaching your kids to embrace racial discrimination? Does he make fentanyl?’
Carlson’s message is clear: Putin is not the problem Americans should be worrying about right now. On the contrary: his mistrust of neighboring Ukraine is much greater. Carlson calls Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a dictator.
The majority of Republicans are disgusted by this overt Putin adoration on the right wing of their party. For example, the Russia issue is leading to a rift within the Republicans. Some applaud Putin, but the other group calls Biden’s action against the Russian president too weak and the sanctions not strong enough. Biden is failing as a leader, Nikki Hailey, UN ambassador to Trump, said: “President Biden promised swift and harsh sentences, he failed to deliver.”
Senator Republican leader Mitch McConnell says Putin’s actions in Ukraine are even Biden’s fault. “I don’t believe that Putin would have been standing at the border with Ukraine with a few hundred thousand troops if we hadn’t suddenly left Afghanistan.” For example, US President Joe Biden takes blows from all Republican flanks.
The far right in France is right behind Putin, most voters certainly not
The contrast could hardly be sharper: in the much-discussed photo of President Macron at a meter-long table opposite Putin, Marine Le Pens Rassemblement National responded with one simple image. The Russian president side by side with the far-right presidential candidate, visiting the Kremlin. The photo was taken during the campaign for the previous French presidential election, in 2017, and shared again by Le Pen’s special adviser. Le Pen’s warm feelings for Putin are no secret. She has been campaigning against EU sanctions against Russia for some time; about the annexation of Crimea, Le Pen said it has never been Ukrainian. The only route to de-escalation, she says, is the guarantee that Ukraine will not join NATO.
In it she finds Eric Zemmour, her rival on the far right, on her side. Zemmour admires Putin as a patriot who defends his country’s interests, and sees Russia’s demands as legitimate. Both see the current crisis as the result of American provocations and disapprove of sanctions. Should Zemmour be elected president in April, he will propose an agreement that will block NATO expansion in exchange for the withdrawal of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine.
Zemmour and Le Pen’s pro-Russian stance increasingly threatens their popularity among French voters. Yet both have so far refused to speak out against Russia, only cautiously criticizing recognition of the separatist regions – Le Pen spoke of a regrettable decision that does not help de-escalation, Zemmour said it touches on Ukraine’s sovereignty .
Their criticism is all the more aimed at President Macron, who, as a Washington messenger boy, would have no respect whatsoever for Putin. That sound is getting louder and louder from the entire opposition since the mediation attempts on Monday turned out to be definitively unsuccessful. Valérie Pécresse, presidential candidate for Les Républicains and Macron’s formidable competitor, condemned his “arrogant and solitary diplomacy”. Still, Macron’s efforts seem to be appreciated by voters. The president still leads the way in Wednesday’s most recent polls.
Ukraine conflict mercilessly exposes Serbian split between East and West
“85 percent of Serbs will always support Russia no matter what,” right-wing authoritarian President Aleksandar Vucic said in a televised interview. Cultural ties between the two countries have traditionally been strong, and Serbia is almost completely dependent on Russian gas.
“We will not give up our traditional friendships,” Vucic said. At the same time, Serbia recognizes Ukraine’s political integrity and declares that it is militarily neutral.
The Serbian state media is clearly pro-Russian. Some have even fantasized about a next step after the Donbas: support for the Serb minority in Bosnia, which has been taking steps towards secession for a few months now.
The Ukraine conflict mercilessly exposes the Serb split between East and West. On the one hand, Serbia has wanted to join the EU for years, but in practice there is little support for foreign policy. Vucic complained Monday that he is being pressured by the EU and the United States to support sanctions against Russia.
The Ukrainian ambassador in Belgrade also addressed Vucic about his lack of conviction, after which the Serbian president hit back with a you-bak. “I will condemn Russia if the Ukrainian government condemns the NATO bombing of 1999,” Vucic said.
There has been strong anti-Nato sentiment in Serbia since the treaty organization made Kosovo’s independence possible through a long series of bombing raids on the Serbian army. Last week, Vucic stated that the Serb people do not want to join NATO. It is music to the ears of Russia, which is trying to keep the Western Balkans in its own sphere of influence.
The Kremlin also sent a delegation to Belgrade this week to discuss alleged ‘mercenaries’. According to Russian minister Sergei Lavrov, they would be recruited from Kosovo, Bosnia and Albania to fight on the Ukrainian side. The countries themselves deny the phenomenon, but according to the AP news agency, Vucic called a meeting about the Russian complaint.