By Janet Ekstract
NEW YORK (TURKISH JOURNAL) – The first female U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Secretary of State and former General Colin Powell, weighed in on the current Ukraine debacle in a series of interviews with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Sunday and made it clear that President Trump has misused his office.
“Our foreign policy is in a shambles right now,” General Powell said and made it clear that America is in a dangerous situation.
Albright weighed in when asked about the whistleblower: “This man is not a spy.” She said that the whistleblower did exactly what he was supposed to do – put his complaint into the intelligence system “like he was supposed to.”
She added: “I think he is a patriot” because she said, “he didn’t go to the press, he went through all the channels.”
Both Albright and Powell agreed that what is needed is to get the investigation “done as quickly as possible” and to “stop calling people names.”
Powell said: “I made it clear that I was a Republican and I’m a moderate Republican who believes we should look out for people right now. Republicans, leaders and members of Congress and leaders of the House are holding back because they are terrified of what will happen.”
Former secretary of state Albright explained what she outlined is going on in the Ukraine: “Ukraine is being run by a KGB officer and he has a plan and he is trying to undermine the democracies. We need to be aware of it and they are also expanding their influence in the Middle East and they are trying to divide us from our allies.”
Both Albright and Powell agreed that the Obama administration did not do enough to stabilize Ukraine and emphasized that the Russians as Albright said, are “using a variety of ways to undermine Ukraine.”
Former General Powell voiced his concerns over what the Chinese and Russians are doing with cyber-security – explaining how they are “buying influence.” He warned that while the EU has given more aid to Ukraine, the U.S. has been cutting foreign aid.
Powell said: “Our European friends have given a lot more to Ukraine than we have.” He added that it’s always best to “be ready for anything” that can happen including a potential war.
Zakaria asked Albright and Powell about what their hopes are for the future in American politics.
“In my book, I say what gives me hope are the young people – they really are forward leaning. Greta, what guts it took to go to the UN and tell them what jerks they are,” Albright said.
In contrast, Powell said: “I believe in the American people because they have more judgment than we give them credit for.” He also emphasized that “this is not the worst time I have lived through” and said that he’s confident Americans will pull out of this situation too. But, Powell stressed that within the Trump administration “everything is a fight, everything is a disruption in Congress.”
Albright said she believes in the “next generation.
Powell concluded: “We’ve got to remember what the constitution started with – we the people, not me the president.”
Zakaria also interviewed Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum who also authored a recent book on the current American political situation.
Zakaria asked Applebaum how Ukraine got involved in this situation. Applebaum explained that it all started when President Trump hired Paul Manafort who she who worked with the ex-pro Russian president who she labeled as “very corrupt.”
She said that was Manafort’s link to Ukraine and by hiring him, Trump “brought Manafort’s tactics, his contacts,” Applebaum added.
Applebaum further outlined that because of Trump’s connection to Manafort and “not wanting to irritate President Trump,” Applebaum said investigations in Russia stopped as well as several other investigations she said.
The columnist continued that “Ukraine feels a huge pressure to carry out Trump’s investigation. This is a story about a president abusing his office to extract dirt from Ukraine. This is a president who is profiting off his presidency and his children are profiting. “
She concluded: “The U.S. is very implicated in causing this corruption around the world because they refuse to stop it because the U.S. is profiting as well.”
