Waving sanctions in front of Russian leader Vladimir Putin will not be enough to stop the invasion of Ukraine, according to former President Donald Trump, who said he fears that war in Ukraine could be a prelude to a wider conflict.
“I mean, this can lead to much bigger than this one area,” Trump said during an interview at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, according to Fox News. “This could lead to a lot of other countries and can lead to world war.”
Although Trump noted that the most recent sanctions that could bar Russian banks from the world financial markets were “very powerful,” he said that paper alone is not enough.
“Sanctions are not, you know, Putin — he understands how to avoid sanctions, and he goes through other countries,” Trump said. “He goes to China as an example.”
The administration of President Joe Biden is “going to have to do more than just sanctions, I suspect,” he continued.
“And if they’re not, I can’t imagine — it’s just going to be a question of time,” Trump said. “It’s a very ugly thing that’s taking place. Should have never happened.”
Trump said the ripple effects of the past days cannot be underestimated.
“You never know how it starts in a world war,” he said.
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“You never think a war is going to come out of it. All of a sudden, you end up in a world war.”
“This is a very dangerous period for our nation, for the country,” he added.
Trump said he feared China would be watching the world’s reaction to Ukraine as it ponders whether to gobble Taiwan by force and noted that the Afghanistan debacle left Russia and China emboldened to see what they could get away with, now that Biden was telegraphing U.S. weakness to the world.
“I really think that was the most embarrassing — one of the lowest points in the history of our country,” Trump said. “And President Xi and Putin, they watched that, and I think they probably came up with ideas that they didn’t have before seeing it because it was grossly incompetent.”
Trump said that as Ukrainians fight back, “there’s great bravery being shown, and I think they’re doing one hell of a job — much more so than anybody would have thought possible.”
Drive by molotov cocktail attack on Russian equipment in Berdyansk pic.twitter.com/ocjvKE2myU
— marqs (@MarQs__) February 27, 2022
“It is very sad, but there is a great amount of bravery being shown right now that’s been pretty incredible,” Trump said.
When asked in the interview if he had a message to Putin, Trump replied, “I have no message.”
“I just think it’s a shame that this is going on. It’s something that should not be going on.”
Trump said he would respond if the Biden administration called, which it has not, and added that Biden is “stuck in this situation that should not have happened, and we’re going to see how it ends up.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.