Merkel announces meeting with Biden on Ukraine, Russia, China

German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated on May 20 that
she would be meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden to discuss foreign issues,
including Ukraine. German media dw.com reports that the conversation will focus
on a common position regarding Ukraine, Russia, and China. In a press
conference held on the sideline of WDR Europaforum, Merkel stated that the
meeting was a result of the U.S. “coming a little closer” to the German
position on the Nord Stream pipeline, even though there were obvious
differences of opinion.

Merkel and Biden are already scheduled to meet twice in
June. First, they will meet at the G7 meeting in the United Kingdom on June
11-13, and then again at the NATO summit in Brussels.

James Hydzik: For the
Germans, the evidence that their position is being listened to by the Biden
administration is a welcome change. However, if one accepts the premise that
Kyiv is the center of the world, then another factor emerges, one that directly
involves neither Berlin nor Moscow. From this angle, Biden’s refusal to proceed
with the  Nord Stream 2 sanctions against German companies is a direct
result of the failure of the Zelensky administration to take seriously the U.S.
political position regarding Naftogaz. While the markets did not react much at
all to Kobolev’s removal and the manner in which it happened, political
Washington did react, as is evidenced by Secretary of State Blinken’s comment
from Kyiv that “the level and quality of support of Ukraine from the United
States directly depends on the level of reforms in the field of good governance
and anti-corruption.”

From this point of view, Washington is sending a
clear message to the Zelensky administration that playing small-town political
games and hiding behind the letter of the law will come at a real cost. This
message is likely to be lost in translation at Ukraine’s presidential office.
Just as Zelensky’s team had to learn at the cost of lives that trying to be
friendly with everyone in the face of Russian aggression doesn’t work, learning
that the Biden administration is serious about good governance and the reforms
that will engender it may cost billions of dollars worth of gas transport and a
geopolitical trump card.