Congressman Mark Green Describes His ‘Sad but Historic’ Trip to Ukraine

Mark Green

 

Live from Music Row Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. –  host Leahy welcomed U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-07) to the newsmaker line to describe his recent visit to Ukraine as Russia masses troops at its southern border.

Leahy: We are joined on a newsmaker line right now by our very good friend, Congressman Mark Green, who represents the 7th Congressional District in Tennessee. Congressman Green, you traveled to the Ukraine last week. Tell us about that.

Green: It was a very interesting trip on a lot of levels, Michael. And probably the biggest shocker was that the Democrats and the Republicans actually agreed on quite a bit of this stuff that went on and the things we were communicating.

So there’s that. But Ukraine is in a dire situation right now. They’ve been at war with Russia since 2014. And when Obama was president and Biden was vice president the last time he invaded Ukraine and 3,000 Ukrainians have died in that struggle right now in the Donbas region. 127,000 Russians on the border are poised to go.

I think it was Monday they put blood and plasma in their hospital. It’s looking pretty serious. We went to NATO to talk to them, make sure NATO is unified on what its response will be, and then went over to Ukraine and met with all the leaders.

The foreign minister, defense minister, president, the speaker of the Parliament. It was a very sad but historic trip. Hopefully, we can get enough deterrence to keep Putin from going into Ukraine.

Yes, Every Kid

Leahy: So first question, you say you went to NATO. Are NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Is that where they are?

Green: Yes. We flew to Brussels, and then spent a day in Brussels, flew to Ukraine, spent two days in Ukraine. We talked with Ukrainians on the street. We talked to waiters, buses, cabbies. We talked to all their leadership.

And they love their democracy, Michael. Even the Russian speakers, despite what Putin’s disinformation campaign is saying, they want freedom.

They’ve tasted freedom and they want it and they’re willing to fight and die for it, which is a good thing. Freedom isn’t free in Ukraine, nor when our country was born, and nor as we fight right now for freedom against the Marxists in our country.

Leahy: You have a military background, a West Point graduate, a major in the army. You served in combat in Iraq. You also were the physician who attended and you wrote a book about it.

You were the physician who attended Saddam Hussein for the first 24 hours of his captivity and wrote a book about that. You know the military.

How big was this delegation and how many on the delegation were Democrats, Republicans who had military experience like you?

Green: There was one other Academy grad, an Annapolis grad, Mikie Sherrill a Democrat, and there was myself. There were three or four members of the Armed Services Committee. Everyone else were members of Foreign Affairs.

There were eight Democrats and three Republicans and I was the lead Republican. So everywhere I went, I represented the Republican side as the Democrat would speak, and then I would speak and press conference the same thing.

It was a good experience for me and particularly because I just enjoy diplomacy so much and I enjoy foreign affairs. But this is a challenging situation. China is watching. Despots around the world are watching how the world handles this.

And you might ask why now? Why is Putin doing this now? He’s doing this now because of the weak actions of our president in August. That weakness on the world stage is why Putin feels this may be his last chance.

I even spoke to the NATO delegates from Poland and the Baltics, and I won’t say which one of them said it, but in the briefing in front of all the Democrats, they said the reason this is happening now is because of weakness in August.

Leahy: Yes. When Biden abandoned Americans in Afghanistan, ran out of the country like a coward, leaving all of our equipment behind. That’s the weakness they’re talking about, and it has consequences.

I want to ask you this, tell our audience, what is the city of Kiev like? Describe it. How does it compare to an American city? How big is it? What are the people like? Is it something we’d be familiar with or is it different?

Green: Yes. If you’ve ever been to Europe, it’s sort of a dual personality, if you will. From an architecture standpoint, there’s the old sort of European-style architecture. There is the old Soviet stuff because Ukraine was a part of the USSR. So there is that.

Leahy: Which is by the way, architecture that literally has no soul. (Chuckles)

Green: That’s pretty much right. But there’s been a lot of economic development over the past three or four years. Brand new apartment complexes, houses going up. The shopping is just like you’d be in Europe or New York City.

In the main part of the cities, downtown Nashville is very similar. The people are incredibly nice and they love their freedom. They are willing to fight. If we give them the equipment, they will fight.

Leahy: How will this play out? Is Putin just playing a bit of a game of a chicken because of Biden’s weakness? Is he at the point where he thinks he can get away with it?

Green: The interesting thing, getting into the mind of Vladimir Putin is about as challenging as getting into the mind of Xi Jinping. He hates America. Vladimir Putin, I think, is still incredibly wounded over the fact that democracy prevailed in the Soviet Union.

Leahy: He was in the KGB in the old Soviet Union. That’s where he learned everything.

Green: Yes, no doubt. His KGB history is fascinating. He was the station chief in Dresden, Germany. There are fascinating stories if you read either his book or books about him, he is vengeful against the United States.

Leahy: Where does this play out?

Green: I think he’s going to do something. I’d say there’s an 80 percent chance, meaning there is some chance that we can deter him if NATO and the US and the EU, and I met with the EU too. We went to the EU Parliament when we were in Brussels.

Leahy: The European Union which all but the United Kingdom are part of.

Green: That’s right. And we met with all those guys. They’re very united, with minimal exceptions to do what needs to be done and that is to lethally arm the Ukrainians.

What’s important for Americans to understand, when I made my speech at the press conference, I talked directly to the delegation or to my district is he’s now massing troops in Belarus.

Leahy: Belarus is north. Is it a separate country north of Ukraine or is it part of Russia now?

Green: That’s an interesting question, but it’s geographically north of Ukraine. So he could attack south. That could be the third action of advance for his attack into Ukraine or you don’t know. He’s massing troops against Poland, which is a NATO country and we have a sworn oath.

Leahy: Whoah, whoah. He’s massing troops against Poland?

Green: Yes.

Leahy: When did that happen? How did I miss that?

Green: That’s been going on for weeks.

Leahy: Boy, I need to pay more attention. Thanks for going out there and reminding us of this.

Green: Yes, so he’s got troops now, they could be there to go south into Ukraine as a third axis of advance. But if you have an enemy who is massing troops on the border of your ally, your article five NATO charter ally, and I was in Iraq and the Poles were there.

I was in Afghanistan. The Poles were there. They sent troops when we were attacked at 9/11 and NATO came to our aid. So we have a solemn oath.

And that’s why I think the president is sending troops to Poland and the Baltics is because of those troops in Belarus. And that makes sense to me.

Leahy: That makes sense. What happens? We got 60 seconds here. Will this turn into an invasion by Putin and what will happen then?

Green: I think there’s an 80 percent chance that it happens. If it happens, there will be massive sanctions against Russia. The one bad outcome would be if Russia and China further align. If you form this axis and the world goes bipolar, it could be very bad. And that’s why deterring him is so important.

Leahy: The odds of Russia and China forming an axis against the West, I think is very high. I wish we had better news, but thanks for that great informative interview. Thanks so much for joining us.

Green: Yes, sir.

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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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4 Thoughts to “Congressman Mark Green Describes His ‘Sad but Historic’ Trip to Ukraine”

  1. william r. delzell

    Are these Neocons (con-artists as well) like Mark Greene willing to risk their own lives in Ukraine fighting the Russians? Maybe if these men and women like Mark Greene and Company had to serve on the front lines in the event of war over there, they would think twice before playing with the lives of either our soldiers or with the lives of our young people, who had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with igniting this conflict!

    1. CMinTN

      Congressman Green actually is a combat vet.

      https://markgreen.house.gov/biography

  2. Apparently Mr. Green didn’t listen to the news report of Jake Tapper..Zelensky telling Biden to calm down. Mr. Green needs to put this much effort into our southern border. Mr. Green became a swamp creature quickly. Pathetic

    1. CMinTN

      Neocon trash just like most of them. People really need to do their research and quit pulling the lever based on that letter after their name. If voters can’t bother themselves to vet candidates then stay home and don’t vote.

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