Pompeo Spars With Senators on Germany Pullout
Says US killed 300 Russians in 2018
Jason Ditz
Testimony at the Senate saw Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the spot, getting grilled on several topics, but most specifically planned troop cuts in Germany, which some senators contended was a “favor” for Russia, noting Russia was the only nation to endorse the plan.
Pompeo fired back that he and Trump had been tougher on Russia than anyone, ever in history, bragging about a 2018 incident in Syria in which US troops killed 300 ethnic Russian fighters as proof.
As for Russia endorsing the troop cuts, Pompeo said the US could send troops back into Germany any time they wanted, and that Russia would be mad when some of those troops are sent to Poland, even closer to the Russian border.
Many in Congress oppose the troop cuts, but even mor eso does the US press, which has followed the suggestion of it benefiting Russia into a new round of shrill worries about undercutting NATO and favoring Russia.
Virtually all US media coverage of the cuts is negative , suggesting it is a threat to the US-German ties, a sign of the US moving further away from European interests, and just generally not being hostile enough toward Russia.
This is common for US policy coverage, especially as it relates to Trump and Russia, as objective consequences tend to be ignored in favor of alarmism.
In practice cutting 12,000 troops means little strategically, Russia has little reason to be happy or mad, and the cuts are clearly more about Trump getting “tough on Germany” over funding than anything Russia-related at all.
posted by Satish Sharma at
14:31
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