Trump wants to Finlandize the United States
By Max Boot
Columnist
June 30 at 5:00 PM
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But then Trump prefers to appease rather than confront Russia. He won’t rule out recognizing Vladimir Putin’s illegal annexation of Crimea; he reportedly told the G-7 that “Crimea probably should belong to Russia because everyone there speaks Russian.” The Baltic states, with substantial Russian-speaking minorities, better watch out.
Trump is said to be interested in reaching a deal over Syria in which Russia would promise to curb Iranian power in return for a pullout of U.S. troops — even though the Russian-backed Assad regime is now attacking rebels within the “deconfliction zones” in southwestern Syria that Trump and Putin announced last year. Pulling U.S. troops out of Syria would hand the entire country over to Russia and Iran.
That is only the beginning of the concessions to his friend Vlad that Trump is contemplating. The Post reports that Trump has ordered the Pentagon to study the removal of U.S. troops from Germany — a country that Trump views as an enemy because it sells cars that Americans love to buy. The U.S. troop presence in Germany has signaled since 1945 our commitment to protecting Europe from Russia. A pullout now would open the door to Finlandization. If you want to see what that could look like, watch the Norwegian TV series “Occupied.”
I have never believed that Trump is a Manchurian candidate — a Russian mole — but it’s hard to know how he would be acting differently if he were. If the Atlantic alliance survives his presidency in its current form, it will be a miracle.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/trump-is-pushing-the-atlantic-alliance-to-the-breaking-point/2018/06/30/c054f0dc-7c8e-11e8-80be-6d32e182a3bc_story.html?utm_term=.920ff6ea4c53
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