Romania, Lone Voice on Alleged Russian Threats

The Russian Federation “has never attacked Romania, and I am sure it will not do so in the future.” This was stated by Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu in an interview with the Agerpres news agency on Saturday, February 10. Romania has been a member of the Atlantic Alliance since 2004, but the Romanian prime minister’s statements contrast with increasingly alarmist warnings emanating from both NATO headquarters in Brussels and other European capitals.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with German newspaper Welt am Sonntag that the alliance should prepare for the possibility that a conflict with Russia could last for decades. “NATO is not preparing for war with Russia,” said Stoltenberg, according to whom, after winning the armed conflict against Ukraine, “there is no guarantee that the Russian offensive cannot spread to other countries.”

From Germany, first Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and then German Chief of General Staff General Carsten Breuer said that Germans “must be prepared for the possibility of war with Russia” within the next 5 to 8 years. Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen added that “Russia could attack a NATO country in just three years.” It was the harshest of the “warnings” about Moscow’s “possible desire to move beyond the war in Ukraine.” Poulsen, whose statements were picked up by Britain’s Financial Times newspaper, joined colleagues from other NATO countries in failing to answer the question, “why should Russia, the biggest country in the world, very rich in natural resources, do this at all?”

And as for former U.S. President Donald Trump, who is seeking the nomination from the Grand Old Party (GOP), i.e. the Republican Party, in the next presidential election, he attacked NATO member states because “they don’t allocate enough defense resources” and also threatened to “not defend them” if he returns to the U.S. presidency.

At a campaign event at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina, Trump recalled a conversation with an unnamed European leader: “One of the presidents of a great country stood up and asked me: ‘Well, sir, if we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?’” Trump said, adding that he responded: “You didn’t pay? No, I will not defend you!”

What’s more. Trump emphasized that he would encourage “Russia to do whatever the hell they want” with any NATO member that does not comply with defense spending guidelines and also acknowledged that he would not “enforce the collective defense clause” if re-elected.