An American political analyst said Europeans are “coddling” US President Donald Trump over the issue of Washington’s potential withdrawal from nuclear arms treaty with Russia feeling that it is in their interest not to ‘poke the bear’.

“Very much like most Republicans in the US Senate and House, the Europeans are coddling President Trump. They obviously feel that it’s in their interest not to ‘poke the bear’,” Myles Hoenig, who ran for the US Congress in 2016 as a Green Party candidate, told Tasnim.

Following is the full text of the interview.

Tasnim: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned recently that his country will be left with no choice but to adopt “tit-for-tat” measures if Washington goes ahead with the plan to kill a key Cold War-era arms control treaty and deploys new missiles in Europe. What do you think?

Hoenig: Both sides have been accusing each other of violations to such arms control treaties. However, that doesn’t mean that retaliation is not unexpected. Both sides have the ability to destroy the other from their home bases in Russia and the United States. What’s different is that the US has such capabilities aimed at Russia on its very borders, and aching to expand the boundaries through their expansion of NATO in Europe. Neither side would likely conduct a first strike but Russia is far more on the defensive than the US and a first strike would be considered by them as a defensive motion. The US, with its argument for preventive war in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, has given all nations this most threatening to world peace position to take. As Europeans themselves would be most at risk, the best hope for de-escalating such tensions would be the disarmament of NATO and allow the Europeans to defend themselves how they see fit, and that certainly includes closer economic ties to Russia and other perceived enemies, making military conflict far less desirable.

Tasnim: How much do you think US unilateral exit from this Treaty could endanger global security?

Hoenig: The US is already the greatest threat to world peace without a unilateral exit for the Treaty. That was echoed as far back as April 1967 when Dr. Martin Luther King said, “…the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government. …” and nothing has changed except for its capabilities and national ego which thrives on ‘exceptionalism’. That in itself is the growing danger in the world.

A withdraw from the Treaty does endanger the global security but one that doesn’t mean that hostilities are imminent. President Trump is entering 2019 under incredible pressures that could easily undo his presidency, and lashing out militarily is not likely to happen, considering how hostile the relationship is between Donald Trump and the military brass.

Tasnim: Lavrov also criticized Europe for failing to act independently and kowtowing to the US at the cost of their own interests. What do you think? 

Hoenig: Very much like most Republicans in the US Senate and House, the Europeans are coddling President Trump. They obviously feel that it’s in their interest not to ‘poke the bear’. For US representatives it’s their own political survival, first during the midterm elections and now it’s for 2020, although their fortunes relying on Trump will not likely be that promising by then. The Europeans see Trump as the buffoon and dolt that he is and are more likely humoring him, knowing that all other US institutions are intertwined with their own. They also have their own fears as many European countries are moving far to the right, often with neo-Nazi tendencies, and becoming far more anti-Russian.

In spite of this, many of the European leaders are setting their own course, without the US’s involvement. The Paris Agreement, nuclear agreement with Iran, and multilateral trade deals go on. With President Trump’s troubles escalating in 2019, it will become far easier for these European leaders to develop stronger backbones and act solely in their own interests, regardless of any effect it may have on the US or its standing in the world.