Zelensky and EU Dreamers Are Out of Their Mind — US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: Nuclear Weapons for Ukraine Is Up to President Donald Trump

 

"BRUSSELS, Belgium — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News said he is not ruling out nuclear weapons for Ukraine, and that ultimately it is up to President Donald Trump.

 

“I’m not here to declare anything on or off the table. That’s not my job. That’s the president’s job. He’s the leader, he’s the master negotiator and dealmaker,” he said.

 

He added, “Some of us are out there to help set certain types of conditions that could make a deal more likely and that’s what I’ve tried to do here in the context of NATO.”

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week Ukraine should be given NATO membership or nuclear weapons as a security guarantee against a future conflicts with Russia as part of a peace deal.

 

But Hegseth on Wednesday outlined some U.S. positions ahead of negotiations, including that Ukraine should not be offered NATO membership.

 

He also said a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is “unrealistic,” that no U.S. troops would be deployed to Ukraine, and that European peacekeepers in Ukraine should not be part of a NATO mission that could trigger Article 5 and thus, U.S. military intervention.

 

Hegseth’s remarks dashed some of Zelensky’s key hopes. On February 4, the Ukrainian president said his country should be offered NATO membership or nuclear weapons as a security guarantee against further conflict with Russia.

 

If joining NATO would take “years” or “decades,” he said, “Then let them give us nuclear weapons.”

 

Hegseth’s remarks, at a meeting of NATO allies and partners who support Ukraine, sent shock and dismay across Europe, which has stood firmly behind Ukraine in the conflict with Russia but relied heavily on U.S. leadership, and financial and military support to keep Ukraine in the fight.

 

But Hegseth said his remarks should not be construed as red lines, but of the reality of the situation.

 

“I’m not the one that declares a red line or not. I work with the president, as we work through these issues, but we believed that it was useful just to speak some reality into the conversation,” he said. “Ultimately, President Trump is the only one who’s gonna determine if there’s wiggle room or movement on any particular position.”

 

He said his remarks did not mean Ukraine could not join NATO in the future.

 

“I think what I articulated yesterday, in consultation with senior leadership in the White House and the Oval Office of the president, was the reality of the moment — that NATO membership was unlikely considering the realities of where we are.

 

No one’s throwing a stake in the ground for 25 years from now or any defined period of time,” he said.

 

“It’s just a recognition that if you want if we want a negotiated peace, you want a ceasefire, you want an opportunity for enduring peace, realistically, right now that’s not in the cards — just like going back to the 2014 borders realistically right now is not in the cards.

 

That’s not a definitive value statement.”

 

He said Trump was a dealmaker who lives “in the real world.”

 

“You can talk about things in an ideal world or you can talk about things in the real world. And that’s where President Trump is,” he said.

 

He said criticism that Trump negotiating with Russia was a sign of weakness “is just wrong and opposite on its face.”

 

“The reason Vladimir Putin and Zelensky are at the table is because of President Trump’s strength, because of American strength. It didn’t happen under Joe Biden. It didn’t happen for years,” he said, adding:

 

    Putin knows that President Trump is strong, which is why this conflict would have never happened under President Trump in the first place. In 2014, it started under Obama. Nothing happened for four years under Trump, and then 2022, you get the conflict under Joe Biden.

 

    President Trump is elected and he shows up, and the conversation completely shifts, which, again, if you want to make a cheap sort of uninformed anti-Trump argument that somehow this takes a card off the table and looks like weakness, that’s all it is — a cheap shot from the cheap seats — not seriously engaged in what sophisticated, high-level negotiations actually look like in the realm of reality.

 

“[Trump] is a brass-tacks dealmaker,” Hegseth said. “The one thing you have to know from President Trump is that he’s always negotiating from a position of strength. He’s not going to walk into a deal and fold. He’s going to walk in and realize the incentives from both sides and be honest about those incentives.”

 

He also hit back at critics who say that any peacekeeping mission not under a NATO umbrella would not deter Putin.

 

“It’s a sort of a cheap, easy, argument to make. … This is from the same people who have presented no new ideas. … What is your idea — endless trench conflict?”

 

Hegseth said his role in the negotiations was a “sliver” of an overarching approach led by Trump.

 

“You’re going see some of the conversations our treasury secretary has had, and the vice president, and the secretary of state, with Zelensky that I think will demonstrate American investment and interest in Ukraine, which has a whole other level of guarantee than just, ‘We like you, so we’ll support you.'”

 

You can imagine what could happen if an idiot like Zelensky would get the nukes. He will never get them and this is reality.

Nerodykite jūsų komunistinių šaknų, palikite Žemaitaitį ramybėje: JAV viceprezidentas Vensas akis į akį svilino net Vakarų Europos elitą ir jie tai visiškai nekentė

 Žemaitaitis – populiarus tiesos sakytojas Lietuvoje, puolamas didžiosios Lietuvos elito dalies, ypač mūsų komunisto - prezidento Nausėdos.

 

 

 

 „Vakarų Europa yra apsėsta išorinių grėsmių, bet yra tokia morališkai pasimetusi, kad net neaišku, dėl ko ji daugiau ginasi“, – perspėjo JD Vance'as penktadienį įžeidžiančioje kalboje žemyno saugumo elitui.

 

 

 

 Tradiciškai plojimai yra nusidėvėjęs matuoklis, nurodantis, kaip gerai pranešama konferencijų salėje. Daugeliu atvejų publika gali priversti bent pusbalsius, mandagius plojimus, tačiau Miunchene penktadienį Vance'as to net negalėjo sulaukti: šimtų, o gal tūkstančio aukščiausių karinių, saugumo ir politinių veikėjų salėje kartais atrodė, kad negalėjo būti daugiau, nei paties Vance'o komanda, sudėjusi rankas plojimui.

 

 

 

 Atsakymas buvo ypač šaltas kalbos viduryje, kai Vance'as išvardijo keletą ypač baisių pastarojo meto atvejų Europos valstybėse, kai vyriausybė griežtai ribojo laisves – nuo ​​ krikščionių arešto už tylią maldą iki rinkimų atšaukimo ir kai jis atvirai apkaltino žemyno lyderius komunistinėmis, antidemokratinėmis nuostatomis. Blogiausia, anot jo, tokius jausmus jie jautė savo žmonėms.

 

 

 

 Jei Europos paternalistų elitas nekentė šios šoko terapijos, tai populistai Europoje ją mylėjo. Didžiosios Britanijos Nigelas Farage'as sustiprino mintį, kad Vance'as geriau suformulavo Europos ateitį, nei galėjo tas elitas, o reformų narys Rupertas Lowe'as pavadino tai „žiauria“ „Tiesa, po tiesos, po tiesos“ kelione.

 

 

 

 Be Europos vyriausybių nesugebėjimų gerbti savo žmonių laisvę skalbinių sąrašo, Vance'as diagnozavo žemyną, kuris prarado savo paties suvokimą, ką jis reiškia, ir, dar blogiau, tą, kuris niekina savo žmonių nuomonę. Jis sakė: „Jei kandidatuojate, bijodami savo rinkėjų, Amerika nieko negali padaryti jums, taip pat negalite nieko padaryti Amerikos žmonėms“.

 

 

 

 Apie teroro išpuolį, įvykusį Vokietijoje prieš dieną, Vance'as užsiminė apie ilgą ir gėdingą tokių išpuolių Europoje istoriją ir pareiškė: „Kiek kartų turime patirti šių baisių nesėkmių, kad pakeistume kursą ir pakeistume bendrą civilizaciją nauja kryptimi?"

 

 

 

 „Britanijoje ir visoje Europoje žodžio laisvė, bijau, traukiasi“, – sakė viceprezidentas, ragindamas Europą atrasti naują pagarbą demokratijai – tikrajai demokratijai, kurioje rinkėjai turi teisę būti gerbiami, nesvarbu, ar tai, ką jie sako, patinka paternalistiniam elitui, ar ne – ir liepė lyderiams labiau gerbti savo tautas. Vance'as sakė: „Aš paprašysiu savo draugų iš Europos turėti šiek tiek perspektyvos. Galite patikėti, kad Rusija negerai perka reklamą socialiniuose tinkluose, kad paveiktų jūsų rinkimus. Tikrai taip. Galite tai pasmerkti net pasaulinėje arenoje. Bet jei jūsų demokratiją galima sugriauti keliais šimtais tūkstančių [dolerių] skaitmeninės reklamos iš užsienio šalies, tada tai nebuvo labai stipru."

 

 

 

 Tačiau yra gerų naujienų, sakė Vance'as, nes demokratija gali būti stipri tol, kol bendras požiūris į rinkėjus nėra toks, kad jie yra blogi žmonės su bloga nuomone, kuriuos reikia menkinti ir ignoruoti. Sakydamas Europos lyderiams, o ypač Vokietijoje, kuriai iki nacionalinių rinkimų liko devynios dienos, gerbti populistus, o ne jų bijoti, jis tęsė: „Šios konferencijos organizatoriai uždraudė įstatymų leidėjams, atstovaujantiems populistinėms ir kairiosioms, ir dešiniosioms partijoms, dalyvauti šiuose pokalbiuose."

 

 

 

 Lyderiams „privalo“ dalyvauti dialoge su šia ne itin tylia europiečių dauguma – žodžiai, be jokios abejonės, kruopščiai parinkti, kad dilgintų, atsižvelgiant į Miuncheno konferencijos šūkį – problemų sprendimas dialogu – ir jo labiausiai smerkiančią retorika Vance'as pasakė jo nustebusiai tyliai auditorijai:

 

 

 

 Dabar daugeliui iš mūsų, esančių kitoje Atlanto pusėje, vis labiau atrodo, kad už bjaurių sovietmečio žodžių, tokių kaip dezinformacija, slepiasi seni įsišakniję interesai, kuriems tiesiog nepatinka mintis, kad kažkas, turintis alternatyvų požiūrį, gali pareikšti kitokią nuomonę arba, neduok Dieve, balsuoti kitaip ar dar blogiau, laimėti rinkimus.

 

 

 

 ... Esu tikras, kad jūs visi atėjote čia pasiruošę pasikalbėti apie tai, kaip tiksliai ketinate per ateinančius kelerius metus padidinti išlaidas gynybai, atsižvelgdami į kokį nors naują tikslą... Bet taip pat leiskite paklausti: kaip jūs net pradėsite galvoti apie biudžeto sudarymo klausimus, o jei nežinome, ką giname visų pirma?

 

 

 

 … Daug girdėjau apie tai, nuo ko reikia gintis, ir, žinoma, tai svarbu, bet kas man pasirodė kiek neaišku, ir, žinoma, daugeliui Vakarų Europos gyventojų,  tai yra tai, dėl ko jūs ginatės. Kokia yra teigiama vizija, kuri pagyvina šį bendrą saugos paketą, kuris, mūsų nuomone, yra toks svarbus. Ir aš giliai tikiu, kad nėra saugumo, jei bijai balsų, nuomonių ir sąžinės, kuri vadovauja tavo pačių žmonėms.

 

 

 

 Didžiosios Britanijos kairiųjų pažiūrų agentūra „Guardian“ pavadino šią kalbą „pūslėmis skleidžiančia“ ir „baudžiančia“ ataka ir pabrėžė, kad Maskvoje ji pasiteisins, pagrįsdama seną idėją, kad Donaldas Trumpas yra tam tikras kripto-Rusijos turtas. Vokietijos dienraštis „Die Welt“ atkreipia dėmesį į valdančiosios partijos FDP politikės Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann komentarus, atsakančius: „Mūsų liberaliam pasauliui gresia didžiulė grėsmė“.

 

 

 

 Pasiryžęs išjuokti Vance'o įžvalgą, kaip veiksmingiausią puolimo liniją, ir taip demonstruodamas išdidų požiūrį į populizmą, populizmą, kurį savo kalboje iliustravo viceprezidentas, Strackas-Zimmermannas sakė: „JAV viceprezidento Vance'o kalba MSC buvo keista intelektualinė žemaūgė ir jai nėra vietos tarptautinėje saugumo konferencijoje. Vokietijos gynybos ministras Borisas Pistorius, kurį, kaip ir Stracką-Zimmermanną, tikėtina, kad po devynių dienų su jo partija bus pašalinti iš vyriausybės, Vance'o komentarus pavadino „nepriimtinais“, o MSC dalyviai salėje tam audringai plojo."

Don’t Show Your Communist Roots, Leave Žemaitaitis Alone: American VP Vance Torched Even the West European Elite Face-to-Face and They Absolutely Hated It

Žemaitaitis is a popular truth speaker in Lithuania, attacked by most of Lithuanian elite, particularly by our Communist President Nausėda.

 

"Europe is obsessed with external threats but is so morally lost it isn’t even clear what it’s defending itself for any more, JD Vance warned in an excoriating speech to the continent’s security elite on Friday.

 

Traditionally, applause is a well-worn gauge of how well a message is going down in a conference-hall. In most cases an audience can bring itself to at least raise half-hearted, polite applause but in Munich on Friday Vance couldn’t even get that: in a room of hundreds, perhaps a thousand top military, security, and political figures at times it seemed like there can’t have been anyone more than Vance’s own team putting their hands together.

 

The response was particularly frosty mid-speech as Vance listed some particularly egregious recent cases in European states where the government has cracked down on liberties, from arresting Christians for silent prayer to cancelling elections, and when he outright accused the leaders of the continent of Communist, anti-democratic attitudes. Worst of all, he said, they held these feelings towards their own people.

 

If Europe’s paternalist elites hated this shock therapy, populists in Europe loved it. Britain’s Nigel Farage amplified the notion Vance had better articulated the future of Europe than those elites could, while Reform MP Rupert Lowe called it a “brutal” tour-de-force of “Truth, after truth, after truth.”

 

Beyond a laundry list of failings by European governments to respect freedom for their own people, Vance diagnosed a continent lost for its own failure to understand what it stands for any why, and even worse one that scorns the views of its own people. He said: “If you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you, nor for that matter is there anything you can do for the American people”.

 

Of the terror attack that took place in Germany just the day before, Vance nodded at the long and shameful history of such assaults in Europe, stating: “How many times must we suffer these appalling setbacks before we change course and take our shared civilisation in a new direction?”.

 

“In Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat”, the Vice President said, in a rallying cry for Europe to find new respect for democracy — real democracy, where voters have a voice to be respected no matter if what they say is agreeable to the paternalistic elite or not — and told leaders to have more respect for their own nations. Vance said: “I’d ask my European friends to have some perspective. You can believe it’s wrong for Russia to buy social media advertisements to influence your elections. We certainly do. You can condemn it on the world stage even. But if your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundreds-of-thousands [of dollars] of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn’t very strong to begin with.”

 

But there’s good news, Vance said, because democracy can be strong as long as the general attitude towards voters isn’t that they are bad people with bad opinions to be denegrated and ignored. Telling European leaders, and those in Germany in particular — which is nine days out from its national elections — to respect populists, not fear them, he continued: “the organizers of this very conference have banned lawmakers representing populist parties on both the left and the right from participating in these conversations.”

 

It is “incumbent” upon leaders to participate in dialogue with this not-so-silent majority of Europeans — words carefully chosen to nettle, no doubt, given the motto of the Munich conference is resolving problems through dialogue — and in his most damning rhetoric Vance told his struck-silent audience:

 

    Now to many of us on the other side of the Atlantic, it looks more and more like old entrenched interests hiding behind ugly Soviet-era words like misinformation and disinformation who simply don’t like the idea that somebody with an alternative viewpoint might express a different opinion or, God forbid vote a different way or even worse, win an election.

 

    … I’m sure you all came here prepared to talk about how exactly you intend to increase defense spending over the next few years in line with some new target… But let me also ask you, How will you even begin to think through the kinds of budgeting questions if we don’t know what it is that we are defending in the first place?

 

    … I’ve heard a lot about what you need to defend yourselves from, and of course that’s important, but what has seemed a little bit less clear to me, and certainly I think to many of the citizens of Europe, is what exactly it is that you’re defending yourselves for. What is the positive vision that animates this shared security compact that we all believe is so important. And I believe deeply that there is no security if you are afraid of the voices, the opinions, and the conscience that guide your very own people.

 

Britain’s left-wing Guardian called the speech a “blistering” and “chastising” attack and emphasised that it would go down well in Moscow, playing up the old idea that Donald Trump is some sort of crypto-Russian asset. Germany’s Die Welt notes the comments of politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, of governing party the corporatist FDP, replying: “Our liberal world is under extreme threat”.

 

Settling on deriding Vance’s intelligence as the most effective line of attack — and in doing so demonstrating the haughty attitude to populism illustrated by the Vice President in his speech — Strack-Zimmermann said: “US Vice President Vance’s speech at the MSC was a bizarre intellectual low-flyer and has no place at an international security conference”. The German defence minister Boris Pistorius, who like Strack-Zimmermann is likely to see his party booted out of government in nine days, called Vance’s comments “unacceptable” to applause in the MSC hall.”

What other diseases do cancer survivors die of?

 

"Patients with lung cancer were also regularly diagnosed with chronic lower respiratory tract diseases as the cause of death. Three causes of death occurred significantly more frequently in cancer patients than in the general population of the same age: liver disease, suicide and infections."