On the 29 August, 2019, Natasha Bertrand of Politico reported that,
"The Trump administration is slow-walking $250 million in military assistance to Ukraine, annoying lawmakers and advocates who argue the funding is critical to keeping Russia at bay.
But the delays come amid questions over Trump’s approach to Russia, after a weekend in which the president repeatedly seemed to downplay Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine and pushed for Russia to be reinstated into the Group of Seven, an annual gathering of the world’s largest advanced economies. " (Politico : 29 August 2019) (my emphasis)
This was followed by David Brennan (right), who reported on Putin's glee that Trump was withholding this critical military assistance to Ukraine.
"A senior Russian official has praised President Donald Trump's decision to delay $250 million in military funding to Ukraine, where government forces are battling a Russian-backed insurgency in the east of the country." (Newsweek : 30 August 2019) (my emphasis)
Then, on September 7th, 2019, Henry Foy, Roman Olearchyk and Michael Peel reported that,
"Russia and Ukraine exchanged 70 prisoners on Saturday after months of intense negotiations .." (Financial Times : September 7 2019) (my emphasis)
Events were now moving fast.
Vladimir Soldatkin (below) then informed us that,
"Russia is ready to take part in a four-way summit in Paris [the Normandy Format: Putin, Merkel, Macron, Zelensky] to try to breathe life into the stalled Ukrainian peace process but has strict preconditions for such a meeting, a senior Kremlin aide said on Friday." (Reuters : 13 September 2019) (my emphasis)
Meanwhile, Merkel and Macron were wasting no timein pushing hard for this Normandy Format meeting to take place as soon as possible.
And why?
"French President Emmanuel Macron has in recent weeks pushed for a review of ties with Russia, indicating that more sanctions against Moscow were not in France's interests. (CNA : 13 September 2019) (my emphasis)
"Germany is confident that hitches threatening the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will be resolved to allow completion of the project on time this year.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is becoming more vocal in its support for the project
after years of parrying queries over its stance toward importing more
Russian gas." (Bloomberg : 12 September 2019) (my emphasis)
We now learn that,
"The [US] Vice President spoke by phone today [September 18] with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to follow up on their productive September 1 meeting in Warsaw and discussed President Trump's upcoming meeting with President Zelensky next week at the UN General Assembly in New York," according to the readout of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's phone call with Zelensky, which was posted on the White House's website on September 18." (UNIAN : 19 September, 2019) (my emphasis)
The speed with which all these events have occurred, it now transpires, may have had a catalytic effect as early as July 2019 that is now blowing up in Zelensky's face.
It has now come to light that a whistleblower working at the White House has revealed, (ON 12 AUGUST 2019) that Trump had a call with Zelensky (ON 25 JULY 2019) in which Trump may have asked Zelensky to "gather dirt" on Joe Biden, his prime presidential opponent in the upcoming US Presidential elections in 2020, as a quid pro quo for him releasing US military aid to Ukraine.
As reported by Rachel Maddow (MSNBC: 19 September 2019)
As also reported by Stephen Collinson (left),
"The details of the controversy unleashed when a whistleblower sounded the alarm about the President are complex, disputed according to political allegiance and largely not public.
The Washington Post and The New York Times reported Thursday that the contacts at issue between Trump and the foreign leader involve Ukraine.
In the past, some of Trump's supporters, including his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, have urged the Kiev government to open investigations that the President could use to raise suspicions about his political rivals, including Joe Biden.
"The Trump administration is slow-walking $250 million in military assistance to Ukraine, annoying lawmakers and advocates who argue the funding is critical to keeping Russia at bay.But the delays come amid questions over Trump’s approach to Russia, after a weekend in which the president repeatedly seemed to downplay Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine and pushed for Russia to be reinstated into the Group of Seven, an annual gathering of the world’s largest advanced economies. " (Politico : 29 August 2019) (my emphasis)
This was followed by David Brennan (right), who reported on Putin's glee that Trump was withholding this critical military assistance to Ukraine.
"A senior Russian official has praised President Donald Trump's decision to delay $250 million in military funding to Ukraine, where government forces are battling a Russian-backed insurgency in the east of the country." (Newsweek : 30 August 2019) (my emphasis)
Then, on September 7th, 2019, Henry Foy, Roman Olearchyk and Michael Peel reported that,
"Russia and Ukraine exchanged 70 prisoners on Saturday after months of intense negotiations .." (Financial Times : September 7 2019) (my emphasis)
Events were now moving fast.
Vladimir Soldatkin (below) then informed us that,
"Russia is ready to take part in a four-way summit in Paris [the Normandy Format: Putin, Merkel, Macron, Zelensky] to try to breathe life into the stalled Ukrainian peace process but has strict preconditions for such a meeting, a senior Kremlin aide said on Friday." (Reuters : 13 September 2019) (my emphasis)Meanwhile, Merkel and Macron were wasting no timein pushing hard for this Normandy Format meeting to take place as soon as possible.
And why?
"French President Emmanuel Macron has in recent weeks pushed for a review of ties with Russia, indicating that more sanctions against Moscow were not in France's interests. (CNA : 13 September 2019) (my emphasis)
And let us not forget Merkel and her Nord Stream2 project.
As reported by Brian Parkin and Vanessa Dezem,
As reported by Brian Parkin and Vanessa Dezem,
"Germany is confident that hitches threatening the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will be resolved to allow completion of the project on time this year.
...
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is becoming more vocal in its support for the project
after years of parrying queries over its stance toward importing more
Russian gas." (Bloomberg : 12 September 2019) (my emphasis)We now learn that,
"The [US] Vice President spoke by phone today [September 18] with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to follow up on their productive September 1 meeting in Warsaw and discussed President Trump's upcoming meeting with President Zelensky next week at the UN General Assembly in New York," according to the readout of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's phone call with Zelensky, which was posted on the White House's website on September 18." (UNIAN : 19 September, 2019) (my emphasis)
The speed with which all these events have occurred, it now transpires, may have had a catalytic effect as early as July 2019 that is now blowing up in Zelensky's face.It has now come to light that a whistleblower working at the White House has revealed, (ON 12 AUGUST 2019) that Trump had a call with Zelensky (ON 25 JULY 2019) in which Trump may have asked Zelensky to "gather dirt" on Joe Biden, his prime presidential opponent in the upcoming US Presidential elections in 2020, as a quid pro quo for him releasing US military aid to Ukraine.
MSNBC : (20 September 2019)
As reported by Rachel Maddow (MSNBC: 19 September 2019)
As also reported by Stephen Collinson (left),
"The details of the controversy unleashed when a whistleblower sounded the alarm about the President are complex, disputed according to political allegiance and largely not public.The Washington Post and The New York Times reported Thursday that the contacts at issue between Trump and the foreign leader involve Ukraine.
In the past, some of Trump's supporters, including his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, have urged the Kiev government to open investigations that the President could use to raise suspicions about his political rivals, including Joe Biden.
In a heated exchange with CNN's Chris Cuomo on Thursday night, Giuliani denied asking Ukraine to investigate the former vice president, before admitting he had done just that.
Trump spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25.
There is so far no public evidence that the whistleblower's complaint
pertains to this conversation.(CNN : September 20, 2019) (my emphasis)
The critical question that we now have to ask ourselves is :-
"Was that telephone tête-à-tête between Trump and Zelensky (25th July 2019) the catalyst that precipitated :-
MSNBC (20 September 2019)
The critical question that we now have to ask ourselves is :-
"Was that telephone tête-à-tête between Trump and Zelensky (25th July 2019) the catalyst that precipitated :-
- the prisoner exchange between Putin and Ukraine on the 7 September,
- the reinstatement of military aid to Ukraine, (as reported by VOA on 12 September, 2019) "President Donald Trump's administration has released $250 million in military aid for Ukraine, U.S. senators said on Thursday, after lawmakers from both parties expressed anger that the White House had held up money approved by Congress.", and
- the sudden rush by Zelensky and Putin (cf: Vladimir Soldatkin (Reuters : 13 September 2019)) to have a Normandy Format meeting?
Is it also merely co-incidental that, as reported by Kenneth P. Vogel and Andrew E. Kramer,
"Months after backing out of a trip to Ukraine amid criticism that he was mixing partisan politics with foreign policy, Rudolph W. Giuliani (left), President Trump’s personal lawyer, has renewed his push for the Ukrainian government to pursue investigations into political opponents of Mr. Trump." (New York Times : 21 August, 2019) (my emphasis)
It is also significant that, as reported by UNIAN,
"President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on September 25 in New York on the sidelines of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
...
It is also expected that Trump during the conversation will touch on the topic of conducting an investigation against Burisma (whose board member was Hunter Biden, the son of former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden)." (UNIAN : 19 September 2019) (my emphasis)
Now that the details of that telephone tête-à-tête between Trump and Zelensky (25th July 2019) are slowly coming to light, and Trump is openly displaying his panic regarding his chances of being re-elected into the White House in 2020, how will Zelensky handle Trump's request to " pursue investigations into his political opponent, Joe Biden"?
Zelensky cannot dodge this political bullet.
The eyes of the world are now upon him.
Will Zelensky do Trump's bidding and pursue 'false' investigations into Joe Biden?
(to be continued)
"Months after backing out of a trip to Ukraine amid criticism that he was mixing partisan politics with foreign policy, Rudolph W. Giuliani (left), President Trump’s personal lawyer, has renewed his push for the Ukrainian government to pursue investigations into political opponents of Mr. Trump." (New York Times : 21 August, 2019) (my emphasis)It is also significant that, as reported by UNIAN,
"President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on September 25 in New York on the sidelines of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
...
It is also expected that Trump during the conversation will touch on the topic of conducting an investigation against Burisma (whose board member was Hunter Biden, the son of former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden)." (UNIAN : 19 September 2019) (my emphasis)
Now that the details of that telephone tête-à-tête between Trump and Zelensky (25th July 2019) are slowly coming to light, and Trump is openly displaying his panic regarding his chances of being re-elected into the White House in 2020, how will Zelensky handle Trump's request to " pursue investigations into his political opponent, Joe Biden"?
Zelensky cannot dodge this political bullet.
The eyes of the world are now upon him.
Will Zelensky do Trump's bidding and pursue 'false' investigations into Joe Biden?
STOP PRESS! URGENT! PLEASE WATCH
MSNBC : 21 September 2019 : Trump Cornered
(to be continued)
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