Yesterday, the State Department abruptly announced that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s planned trip to Luxembourg and Brussels, scheduled for this week, was canceled, as was the trip of U.S. UN Ambassador Kelly Craft to Taiwan. The official explanation was that Pompeo had to be involved in planning for the transition to the Biden Administration, although wires today reported that all State Department travel had been cancelled, due to growing fears of violence at the Jan. 20 inauguration of Joe Biden. Craft’s planned trip to Taiwan was seen by the Chinese as a blatant provocation, at a time when bilateral tensions are at an all-time high.
Reuters, Sputnik International and Bloomberg tell a different story however. EU officials and Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn indicated they had no interest in meeting with Pompeo following what they interpret to be the events of Jan. 6 in Washington. Asselborn, with whom Pompeo sought to meet unofficially, told Luxembourg’s RTL Radio that Trump was a “political pyromaniac who must be brought before a court.” According to Reuters, the Europeans were “embarrassed” by Pompeo’s support for President Trump. During his visit to Brussels, Pompeo had been scheduled to hold a private meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, prior to meeting with Belgian Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmes. The fact that no public meetings were scheduled for Pompeo also raised questions as to the purpose of his trip.
