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Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News Digital in an interview that he is “worried” about “a cascading set of calamities around the world” in the wake of Russia’s multifront war on Ukraine, urging the Biden administration to be “fearless” in using U.S.’s economic “power.”
Pompeo told Fox News that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “always had a dream of a greater Russia.”
“That hasn’t changed – that’s been a constant since he’s been in charge in Russia,” he said. “What changed was American leadership.”
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Pompeo said that under the Trump administration, there was “a deep understanding that we were going to put America first” and were “prepared to protect the things that mattered to us.”
“And when someone crossed that, when someone did something that risked an American life or put our economy at risk that we wouldn’t have jobs, or prosperity, we responded,” Pompeo said, noting they responded “diplomatically,” and also with force, referring to the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
“Those are the things that leaders come to see — they come to see that America must be realist and serious,” Pompeo said. “We don’t need to send 50,000 soldiers every place, but we need to use the things that America has.”
Pompeo told Fox News that U.S. economic power is “of an enormous influence.”
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at Jerusalem Post’s annual conference on Oct. 12, 2021 in Jerusalem.
(Amir Levy/Getty Images)
“We need to be fearless in using it,” Pompeo said. “And when you are weak, when you allow the debacle in Afghanistan to result in the death of 13 Americans, this is precisely what bad guys will see.”
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Pompeo added: “I’m really worried. I’m worried about a cascading set of calamities around the world.”
Pompeo said current and former U.S. officials are “watching Europe,” warning that it is unclear, at this point, if Putin “will stop in Ukraine.
“I’m confident the Ukrainian people will fight, but we could have Xi Jinping see a weakness. We could have Chairman Kim see weakness,” Pompeo said, referring to Chinese and North Korean leaders.
Former President Trump, during an exclusive interview with Fox News over the weekend, also warned that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could lead to “world war.”
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As for sanctions the Biden administration has imposed on Russia, Pompeo said they “won’t be strong enough to deter what’s happening this afternoon or tomorrow.”
Michael Pompeo, former U.S. secretary of state, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022.
(Tristan Wheelock/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Pompeo urged the Biden administration to “think about allowing American crude oil and natural gas to travel the world to support the Ukrainian people and the people of Europe.”
“It would reduce the price of crude oil and gasoline–that’d be good for the United States–but, importantly, it would deny $50 a barrel to Vladimir Putin,” Pompeo said.
“We are, by shutting down American energy, we are fueling a communist invasion,” he said. “We should take away the resources from the Russians, just like we did the Iranians and Chinese during our time in office.”
He added: “Those are the kind of things that change the calculus for thugs like Vladimir Putin.”
Meanwhile, Pompeo slammed the Biden administration for engaging in negotiations on a new nuclear with Russia in Vienna last week.
“We’re sitting on the same side of the negotiating table with the Russians in Vienna, negotiating a new nuclear deal–we’re their partners in negotiating,” Pompeo said. “This is just absurd–I can’t remember a time in history when you had a nation that’s gone to war with a friend and an ally and you decided, hey, we’re going to negotiate with you–with a bad guy who is building a bomb trying to destroy the State of Israel.”
He added: “It is so far afield from the tradition of America and the work that we did for four years.”
Pompeo said the United States of America “is the greatest nation in the history of civilization.”
“We should act that way–not with arrogance and hubris–but with dynamic. Humble power, that speaks with moral clarity about our Judeo-Christian tradition and the country that we are,” he said. “When we do that, other countries will want to be our friends.”
Pompeo said allied nations will “want to partner with us and trade with us, and our adversaries will behave in ways that are more normative, less ruthless.”
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As for Russia and China’s relationship amid the Kremlin invasion in Ukraine, Pompeo said Putin and China’s Xi Jinping “share some common characteristics.”
“Neither of them gives a whip stitch about human life, and both have grand intentions for the building of greatness for their own nation,” Pompeo said. “They have things they disagree on, but for the moment, they are going to find common cause.”
Pompeo said the United States needs “to do everything we can to disrupt that commonality.”
“We managed to do that, I think, in a significant way, for four years,” Pompeo said of the Trump administration. “We need to make sure we focus on the primary challenge to the United States of America over the next 50 years–which will turn out to be the Chinese Communist Party, inside the gates, impacting us here at home.”
Meanwhile, criticizing the Biden administration, Pompeo said its priorities are at odds with that of the Trump administration in regard to foreign relations.
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“The most important differences are that we were fearless about protecting America everywhere in the world. We wanted religious freedom to be one of the things we worked on deeply,” Pompeo said. “They’ve chosen to lead with climate change.”
“When you put climate change at the top of your agenda, when the conversation isn’t about power, but about carbon footprint, the world thinks of you in a deeply different way,” Pompeo said.
He added: “I sadly think that the change in priorities and a lack of focus on America First has driven Vladimir Putin to think that he had this opportunity.”
