(transcript of the spoken editorial from the program “What’s in Gșă, and in the tick!” on GOLD FM)
Author: Cozmin Gusa
Just to start on a more relaxed note, what Donald Trump has done in the last few days can be described by the saying “he slapped a turd in the face”. From the recklessness with which he directed his people to generate the boomerang attack on the EU, to the near-total caving in that the US negotiating team made in Riyadh in favor of the Russian crew, it all culminated, however, yesterday with Trump’s breathtakingly blistering and breathtakingly vindictive attack on Zelensky. I won’t rehash exactly what he said now; it was more like a sort of rant, in which he parroted, rather like a parrot, what Putin’s people have always claimed about this ZeleVogue. But what works on the Russian side, and it is true about Zelenski, does not work at all on the US President’s side, who seems to be afflicted by what I call ‘head swelling’, a phenomenon that makes those who are afflicted unable to distinguish between what can be done and what cannot be done. In fact, unfortunately for him, but also for the US administration, Trump yesterday showed not authority, as he probably intended, but desperation, stemming from being told about the devastating effects of the wrong moves he ordered, which I have briefly outlined above.
I also have a piece of advice, perhaps it will be heard; it is important for Romania, for Europe, but especially for America: it is time for Donald Trump, if he wants to make it, to call in the professionals; he can’t be successful with Elon Musk and then Steve Bannon’s strategies, which are just campaign strategies, “guerrilla political marketing”. Donald Trump needs to be assisted and listened to by real professionals. He’s got two sure hands beside him: one is Kash Patel, who as of yesterday was appointed and has full rights as head of the FBI, but there’s also John Ratcliffe, also a professional suited to this era, who is CIA director. I know, you don’t like that either; people usually prefer not to believe the unpalatable, and so you have to look at the same time at the public analysts’ brinkmanship, applauding and validating Trump’s moves. Some have the excuse that they’re scared and don’t know any better, others, however, have been infected by this desperation.
On the other side of the geopolitical chess table, Vladimir Putin already seems to be having fun, but I see him as being more concerned not to interrupt Trump from the string of mistakes he is making, and this is Putin’s first of three lines in the simultaneous chess game he has taken on. Putin’s second line of play is related to China and is by far the most important. It is clear to me that, in every action and statement of late, Putin is taking great care to represent China’s interests as well, as they were set out with Xi Jinping in the roadmap, my friends, that they agreed on together, exactly three years ago in Beijing, on the occasion of the Winter Olympics there, and before the start of the Ukrainian war, which Putin promised not to start, I would remind you, until after the Olympics in China; and he kept his word. Finally, Putin’s third line of play in this simultaneous chess game is more diffuse today, but specialists assure you that they see it clearly. It is linked to the priming of the all-out conflict between the US and the EU, where, for the time being, Zelensky is still playing a major role, unbeknownst to him, of course.
Don’t doubt that Western Russian intelligence networks are even stronger in the West today than they were before the Ukrainian war, it’s also natural that they should be, because for them it’s war, and the US, by what Trump’s people have done, has suddenly generated a reorientation in many chancelleries, but also secret services in the European Union. That explains the underground links, mind you, resumed in recent days between the German government and the Kremlin. There will certainly be more to come.
The European West’s fight with the US, today over Ukraine and Zelensky, tomorrow probably over other reasons, related to US tariffs or high gas and oil prices in the US, well, this fight will be used by Putin to undermine the credibility and international strength of Trump and his regime. The Trump-Putin battle also directly and to a large extent concerns Romania, as I have been explaining to you for a long time, and as Cristi Diaconescu, the head of the Presidential Administration, unwittingly but correctly revealed yesterday. I repeat once again: Romania is clearly placed on the table of the great division, and Diaconescu has confirmed that Russia has made a request for the US to withdraw from Romania, and he also said that we have no guarantees that this will not happen, and it is perfectly true from top to bottom what Cristi Diaconescu said, so much so that it is inappropriate that he said it, representing the Presidential Administration, if that is correct.
And in addition and in conclusion, the interviews, which say nothing, given to the US press, such as the one given by Călin Georgescu to Elon Musk’s man (an amateur!), well, these interviews solve absolutely nothing. We, Romania, can count on Ilie Bolojan to come out of his silence or on Călin Georgescu to come out of his populist rhetoric, if we really want to count in Washington DC, where, for the time being, only Russian FM Sergey Lavrov has put us in the foreground.
