EXCLUSIVE: President Biden’s government was overtaken by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on critical security fronts, Richard Grenell, former acting director of national intelligence for the Trump administration, told Fox News.
“You have to give it to Chancellor Merkel: she overcame Joe Biden in just three weeks. Merkel made it clear that she would not take sides between communist China and capitalist America, reversed the withdrawal of 10,000 US soldiers that Trump had previously announced and got the Biden government to stop applying Nord Stream 2 sanctions, “said Grenell.
Last week, Biden froze the plan to withdraw American troops from the Federal Republic. In December, Congress passed legislation – the National Defense Authorization Act – that contains sanctions against companies and individuals involved in the Nord Stream 2 project.
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Nord Stream 2’s agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime will transfer Russian gas to the Federal Republic via a pipeline under the Baltic Sea. Critics say the project will ensure that Germany becomes dependent on Russia’s energy needs – a major opponent for the United States and Europe.
For Grenell, who was the first openly gay person to hold a US cabinet post and who also served as an ambassador in Berlin from 2018 to 2020, the “message is that you can have a ‘Germany first’ policy, have your business fully engaged with China, and you don’t have to take sides between communist China and America.
“Merkel always wanted to go back to the table where she sits in front of a weak United States president,” he continued, adding that she did not like the Trump administration’s “transactional diplomacy”.
According to Grenell, then President Donald Trump told Merkel, “I don’t blame you for wanting policies that benefit Germany, but you can’t blame me for defending America.”
The Merkel government faced intense criticism during Trump’s term for allegedly parasitizing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) by failing to honor his promise to spend 2% of GDP on defense.
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“From a German point of view, they get the pipeline [to import Russian natural gas] and they don’t have to pay their commitment to NATO, “said Grenell.” Europe wants a president of the United States who does not demand that they pay their bills. ”
For security and intelligence experts like Grenell, the Merkel government’s addiction to Russian gas, its policy of neutrality towards the Chinese Communist Party and its abandonment of its obligations to NATO means that “Merkel takes a quick step away from the West under Biden.”
He warned against returning to business as usual with Europe: “Europeans want to go back to the days when Americans kindly asked for something, Europeans ignored the request and everyone went to dinner with a bottle of fancy wine.”
“The Germans had a free pass from the Biden government not to join the West if it doesn’t help them personally,” he said.
Grenell said Berlin is eager to “start normalized trade with Iran”. Germany is the Iranian regime’s largest European trading partner. In 2019, the Merkel government celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Islamic revolution of the Iranian regime at the Tehran embassy in Berlin.
Germany’s cordial relations with the Iranian government, the main sponsor of international terrorism under the Obama and Trump governments, raises questions about Merkel’s relations with the Communist Party of China, particularly in light of the allegations of Beijing’s genocidal actions against Muslims.
In a January 26 Politico article entitled “Merkel on the side of Xi to avoid Cold War blocs”, journalists wrote, “Merkel rejected calls on Europe to choose between the US and China on Tuesday. , in a nod to the appeal made by Chinese President Xi Jinping the day before. “
The government of Chinese President Xi Jinping has been accused by former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and current US Secretary of State Antony Blinken of committing genocide against Chinese Muslims Uighur minority population.
Germany did not consider the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of the Uighur community to be genocide.
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When asked about Grenell’s criticism and whether Germany agrees with Blinken’s statement that China is involved in genocide targeting its Uighur citizens, a spokeswoman for Merkel wrote to Fox News by email: “We will not comment on the statements. “
Dolkun Isa, who is president of the Uyghur World Congress, said: “Merkel has avoided discussing this issue publicly for some time – a fact that has not escaped the attention of the Chinese propaganda machine.”
A German Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to provide explicit answers to Fox News’s questions about Grenell’s criticism and cited comments Foreign Minister Heiko Maas made to German media and social media. He refused to call China’s conduct against the Uighur population genocide.
Maas wrote on Twitter “To meet China’s challenge for fair competition, especially for human rights, we need a union with the United States. We can achieve much more when the United States and Europe are on the same side of the field.”
Both Merkel’s office and Maas refused to answer Fox News’s questions regarding requests for Germany to cancel the Nord Stream 2 project.
Maas emphasized ongoing negotiations with Russia, rather than robust economic sanctions against the Russian government for its human rights abuses. He told Funke-Mediengruppe in early February: “Close coordination between partners is important. President Biden’s announcement that the approach to Russia will be coordinated again with the allies is therefore an important signal.”
Germany’s most widely circulated newspaper, Bild, in 2019 revealed Emily Haber, Germany’s ambassador to Washington, for aggressively lobbying Congress in favor of Russian President Putin’s Nord Stream 2 project.
According to Bild, a member of Congress said people were “shocked” by Haber’s conduct because she “is unequivocally on Russia’s side”.
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Haber declined to respond to an investigation by Fox News.
During Grenell’s time in Berlin, he accomplished what previous ambassadors failed to achieve, according to longtime European power policy observers. “The way we achieved a ban on Hezbollah in Germany was two years of constant pressure and prioritization of issues. That was the only way the Germans moved. The momentum will not continue across Europe unless the government Biden does more than just lip service and use his influence, and let’s be honest, it will make some people cry out, ‘You’re being mean,’ “he said.
France opposes an EU-wide ban on the entire Hezbollah organization, while Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Latvia, Slovenia, Serbia, Estonia and Lithuania have banned the Lebanese Shiite militia.
In addition to Israel, the United States and Canada, countries with a Muslim majority, such as Sudan and Bahrain, together with the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council, classify all of Hezbollah as a terrorist entity.
A US State Department spokesman told Fox News on Tuesday that “the United States is committed to the US-Germany relationship and the need for coordinated action to overcome global challenges”.
“The Biden government is putting alliances at the center of US foreign policy and we will work to adapt them to the world we face, making us stronger and more secure,” said the spokesman. “The Biden government has made it clear that we need the support of strong and capable allies like Germany, and that fixing and modernizing alliances also means that we will continue to ask our allies to share more of the global burden, as well as to meet their capacity targets. NATO. When we work in cooperation with other nations that share our values and goals, we make ourselves and our Allies more secure. “
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“As a spokesperson [Edward] Price said Nord Stream 2 was designed to increase Russia’s influence on allies and partners, and that undermines transatlantic security. The United States will continue to work with our allies and partners to ensure that Europe has a reliable and diverse energy supply that does not compromise collective security. As President Biden made clear, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is a terrible deal, “they added.
Benjamin Weinthal reports on human rights in the Middle East and is a member of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Follow him on Twitter @BenWeinthal