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Trump’s Amateurish White House ThinksPoland Invaded Belarus

By Hrafnkell Haraldsson (http://www.politicususa.com/author/hrafnkell-haraldsson-2-2-2) on Sat, Feb 4th, 2017 at 3:31 pm

Trump was not the least bit interested in news about

Russian incursions into Ukraine, which are anything

but the product of overheated White House

imaginations.

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1 of 6 02/05/2017 01:11 PM

We have seen the disaster that is Trump’s alleged foreign policy

(http://www.politicususa.com/2017/02/02/twitter-rants-phone-calls-

policy-trumps-sucks.html), a collection of hackneyed tweets and erratic

phone calls. Now it turns out, as revealed by the Associated Press, that

the Trump White House wanted to know about a Polish incursion into

Belarus, once called “White Russia,” a landlocked country wedged in

between Poland and Russia, with Lithuania and Latvia to the north and

Ukraine to the south.

Julie Pace, the Associated Press‘ White House correspondent, tweeted

(https://twitter.com/jpaceDC/status/827881807467143169)the news this

morning:

Also eyebrow raising: senior aides requesting info on Polish

incursions into Belarus, which don't appear to exist https://t.co

/XFlFubjm9I (https://t.co/XFlFubjm9I)

— Julie Pace (@jpaceDC) February 4, 2017

(https://twitter.com/jpaceDC/status/827881807467143169)

According to the Associated Press (https://apnews.com

/9a5a5fbbb2ba45b2b9316e1734ec22eb),

“According to one U.S. official, national security aides have sought

information about Polish incursions in Belarus, an eyebrow-raising

request because little evidence of such activities appears to exist. Poland

ite%20House%20Thinks%20Poland%20Invaded%20Belarus.%0AYou%20can%20read%20it%20on

a.com%2F2017%2F02%2F04%2Ftrumps-white-house-thinks-poland-invaded-belarus.html)

Trump's Amateurish White House Thinks Poland ... http://www.politicususa.com/2017/02/04/trumps-w...

2 of 6 02/05/2017 01:11 PM

is among the Eastern European nations worried about Trump’s friendlier

tone on Russia.”

Eyebrow raising indeed. As security consultant John Schindler tweeted

(https://twitter.com/20committee/status/827894619090350081), it isn’t

as if Belarus will be invading it’s bigger and bullying neighbor any time

soon:

No big. It's not like Poland has a history of betrayal by so-called

allies or getting handed to Moscow on a platter.https://t.co

/sWMIWXFake (https://t.co/sWMIWXFake)

— John Schindler (@20committee) February 4, 2017

(https://twitter.com/20committee/status/827894619090350081)

Poland is afraid of Russia, and for good reason, after being betrayed by

Stalin in 1939 and divided between Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany.

When NATO forces arrived in January to their new base in Zagan in

southwestern Poland, Russia called them a threat to its national security

but Poles cheered (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe

/russia-nato-us-military-troops-stationed-vladimir-putin-poland-

a7524726.html).

And with good reason, notwithstanding Belarus strongman Alexander

Lukashenko’s protests (https://twitter.com/preslukashenko/status

/820541534886121473) that Belarus provides some kind of meaningful

border between the two countries.

Trump's Amateurish White House Thinks Poland ... http://www.politicususa.com/2017/02/04/trumps-w...

3 of 6 02/05/2017 01:11 PM

The other partner in Trump’s national security fantasy scenario, Belarus,

is just as worried about Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Belarus is not a NATO

member state but Putin worried it may become too friendly to the West

and too independent of Russia.

Schindler believes (https://twitter.com/20committee/status

/827896187973931009)“Minsk is slipping from Putin’s grasp” and that

provocations should be expected. The timing of the national security

aides’ inquiries is, therefore, suspicious.

In fact, brave words aside, Lukashenko is currently worked up about

alleged Russian violations of the two countries’ 20-year old border

agreement. As the Financial Times explains (https://www.ft.com/content

/4eeeb5ca-ea1f-11e6-893c-082c54a7f539),

Russia and Belarus share a border under a 1996 deal that set up

a commonwealth known as the Union State. But Russian border

guards this week set-up checkpoints at crossings into Belarus in

response to Mr Lukashenko’s decision to introduce five-day visa

waivers for citizens of 79 countries, including the US and EU

member states.

“These tensions are happening because people in Russia are

concerned that Belarus will move towards the west,” Mr

Lukashenko said at an annual press conference in Minsk, the

capital.

“As president I’m not supposed to play games or show my hand,

because there’s a lot going on behind the scenes that you don’t

see or hear and don’t need to know,” he added.

The comments by Mr Lukashenko, often described as Europe’s

last dictator, highlighted growing tensions between Moscow and

Minsk over Belarus’s balancing act between east and west.

It is more than a bit disturbing that the Trump administration is so

ill-informed and amateurish than it would seriously entertain the idea of

a Polish invasion of Belarus.

Lukashenko, by the way, lashed out at the FSB, the Russian security

agency once known as the KGB and of which Vladimir Putin was once

an agent – and the same folks Trump is busily cozying up to

(http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-relaxes-

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u-s-sanctions-on-russia-imposed-under-obama/) in easing the terms of

President Obama’s recent sanctions.

There is a very real threat here. Keep in mind that Hitler used a staged

Polish incursion into Germany – the infamous Gleiwitz incident

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleiwitz_incident) – as his casus belli in

invading Poland in 1939. If Putin is looking for an excuse to invade

Belarus as well as Ukraine, Trump, whether intentionally or in his role as

a useful idiot, seems eager to lend a hand.

Tellingly, Trump was not the least bit interested in news about Russian

incursions into Ukraine (http://www.economist.com/news/europe

/21716091-new-clashes-donbas-may-show-vladimir-putin-testing-donald-

trump-america-and-russia-talk?spc=scode&spv=xm&

ah=9d7f7ab945510a56fa6d37c30b6f1709), which are anything but the

product of overheated and Kremlin-influenced White House

imaginations.

Map: Google Maps

  Alexander Lukashenko (http://www.politicususa.com/tag/alexander-

lukashenko), Belarus (http://www.politicususa.com/tag/belarus), Belarus

Fears Russia (http://www.politicususa.com/tag/belarus-fears-russia),

NATO (http://www.politicususa.com/tag/nato), Poland

(http://www.politicususa.com/tag/poland), Poland Fears Russia

(http://www.politicususa.com/tag/poland-fears-russia), Russia

(http://www.politicususa.com/tag/russia), vladimir putin

(http://www.politicususa.com/tag/vladimir-putin)

Follow Hrafnkell Haraldsson on Twitter (http://twitter.com/AHeathensDay)

Trump’s Amateurish White House Thinks Poland Invaded Belarus added by Hrafnkell

Haraldsson (http://www.politicususa.com/author/hrafnkell-haraldsson-2-2-2) on

Sat, Feb 4th, 2017

View all posts by Hrafnkell Haraldsson → (http://www.politicususa.com/author

/hrafnkell-haraldsson-2-2-2)

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