Demanding that 68-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin release 44-year-old dissident Alexi Navalny, 78-year-old President Joe Biden grandstanded with the U.S. press, contrasting himself with his predecessor, 74-year-old former President Donald Trump. Biden and his 58-year-old newly minted Secretary of State Tony Blinken slammed Putin for arresting Navalny Jan 18 when her returned to Moscow after treated for Novichok poisoning in Berlin since August. Biden hailed a new era of “diplomacy,” then proceeded to act like a boor with Blinken, doing everything possible to alienate Putin. Biden and Blinken think nothing of accusing Trump of “incitement of insurrection,” wanting the U.S. Senate to throw the book at him during his impeachment trial scheduled for tomorrow. Navalny, a known Russian dissident, has been working feverishly to oust Putin.
Where’s the logic in Biden and Blinken’s diplomacy when they know based on past history that Putin doesn’t respond to coercion. It was Biden, after all, as former President Barack Obama Vice President, that did nothing March 1, 2014 when Putin invaded and annexed Crimea. Since the 2016 election, Democrats and the U.S. press have been accusing the Russian Federation of messing with the 2016 presidential election when Trump beat former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Hillary paid for completely fabricated opposition research against Trump AKA “the Steele dossier,” accusing Trump of being a Russian asset. Can you imagine how insane Putin thinks of the U.S. press and elected officials to sick the FBI on Trump for Hillary’s rubbish, harassing him for four years of his presidency? U.S. officials talk about the Constitution and rule of law, except when it involves Trump.
Putin knows better than anyone that Trump has no ties whatsoever in Moscow, now watches Trump impeached, dragged through the mud for the second time. Biden and Blinken want Trump convicted of “incitement of insurrection,” because a small percentage of his Jan. 6 audience went ballistic, stormed the Capitol and defaced public property. Yet Biden and Blinken demand that Putin release Navalny from prison knowing that he seeks nothing short of the overthrow of the Russian government. What’s the matter with the so-called liberal U.S. press pushing Biden and Blinken into such insanity, demanding that Putin release Navalny. If Biden and Blinken think Trump is a clear-and-present danger to U.S. national security, what’s Putin supposed to think about Navalny? Navalny really has organized a national movement in Russia to subvert Putin’s government.
Trying to get some traction on the Navalny issue, 73-year-old EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell, formerly Spanish Foreign Minister, traveled to Moscow to meet with 71-year-old Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Borrell hoped, like Biden and Blinken, to lecture Putin on civil and democratic rights, calling for the release of Navalny. “The press conference after their talks of Friday was a lesson in hubris and failure,” said Christian Trippe, head of Deutsche Welle’s Eastern Europe service, disgusted by Borrell’s performance. “At times, Borrell came across as a cornered, ill-prepared schoolboy. Lavrov is notorious for not giving his negotiating partners and inch, but this time he even managed to rob Borrell of his political dignity,” Trippe said, breaking new ground in hypocrisy. Borrell got no different treatment than the new President of the United States.
Borrell went to Moscow thinking he had the backing of 62-year-old European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Borrell was theoretically correct but highly naïve thinking that Putin or Lavrov would agree with his assessment of Russian politics. Putin and Lavrov see the Navalny situation as entirely a Russian internal affair, something that must be dealt within the Russian government. Whatever issues Putin has domestically, it’s not helpful when foreign leaders like Biden and von der Leyen want to opine about what Putin should do. Especially in the U.S., there are real problems regarding the operation of U.S. democracy with Trump facing his second impeachment trial tomorrow. Borrell knows that the Brussels-based EU buys 40% of its natural gas and 30% of its petroleum from Russia, something that won’t change no matter what happens to Navalny.
U.S. and EU officials did next to nothing when Putin decided to invade Georgia Aug. 1, 2008, annexing Russian enclaves in South Ossetia and Abkazia. Former President George W. Bush and his savvy Vice President Dick Cheney did nothing, other than appeal to the U.N. and EU. When history repeated itself March 1, 2014 with Putin invading Ukraines’s Crimean peninsula, the exact same thing happened. Yet EU officials are infuriated with Borrell who dared to bring up Navalny’s sentencing and long jail sentence. “Diplomatic channels must remain open, not only to defuse crises or incidents, but also to have direct exchanges, deliver firm and frank messages, especially relations are far from satisfactory,” Borrell said. Borrell’s big mistake was expecting Putin and Lavrov to accommodate EU demands. Borrell knows keeping channels open requires more diplomatic restraint.
