In prepared remarks delivered via Zoom Conferencing to the 2021 Munich Security Conference, 78-year-old President Joe Biden pretended that he, as U.S. president, will lead the world against foreign enemies, especially Russia and China. “I am sending a clear message to the world: America is back. The transatlantic alliance is back,” referring to the “America First” days of his 74-year-old predecessor former President Donald Trump. U.S. NATO allies didn’t like when Trump pushed them to pay a bigger share of their national budget on defense, not expecting the U.S. to foot the bill. But most significantly, as Biden claimed, “America is back,” so is the anti-Kremlin rhetoric pushing the European Union to break off relations with the Russian Federation. No sooner than Joe took his left hand off the bible, the anti-Putin rhetoric began, this time complaining about treatment of 44-year-old dissident Aliexi Navalny.
Biden thinks his tough talk about the Kremlin sits well with the EU, known for growing energy dependence on Russia, constituting 40% of the EU’s natural gas supplies and 30% of its petroleum. So, when Biden plans to lead the transatlantic alliance by bashing Putin and Kremlin, the EU sees problems ahead. EU officials have already seen Russian ambassadors from Germany, France, Poland and the Baltic states have their diplomats ousted from Moscow over the current row over Navalny. Western nations have been duped by Navalny as a pro-democracy figure in Russia, when, in fact, he’s an anti-Putin figure building a nationwide opposition to toss Putin out of office. Biden’s remarks to the Munich Security Conference were designed to reassure the EU that American stands with them while they battle Putin and the Kremlin, something that’s certain to destabilize world order.
EU officials, led by 62-year-old European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and 45-year-old European Council President Charles Michel, are not happy that they’ve backed themselves into a corner with Russia over Navalny. Biden thinks he’s reassuring the EU by talking tough about the Kremlin but the Brussels-based union worries about Putin flexing more muscle when it comes to Europe. After Putin invaded Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula March 1, 2014, the U.S. and EU did nothing other than threaten economic and travel sanctions against the Kremlin. “Let me erase any lingering doubts: The United State will work closely with out European partners,” Biden said, knowing that former President Barack Obama did nothing to push back against Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Biden knows that Eastern Europe lives in Russia’s shadow and must try to get along.
Living across the Atlantic puts the U.S. into a different category than Europe, where Russia breathes down their neck. Biden asked the EU to align themselves with Washington not Moscow, citing Russia’s ‘malign activities,” referring to the invasion of Crimea and more recently alleged Russian cyberattacks on SolarWinds software used by U.S. government and military. “Putin seeks to weaken the European project and our NATO alliance. He wants to undermine the transatlantic unity and our resolve,” Biden told the Munich meeting. No doubt some members to the EU and NATO recall the U.S. doing nothing when Putin invaded Crimea. Seven years later, all the sanctions and saber-rattling hasn’t won back Crimea for Ukraine. Russian forces on Ukraien’s Southeastern border continue to back Ukraine’s pro-Russian separatists looking to cede from Ukraine like what happened in Crimea.
Picking on Putin raises anxiety especially in former Soviet satellites and Eastern European countries bordering the Russian Federation. Biden spoke of days of peace under Trump, when Putin and the Kremlin were not targets of American aggression. “It’s so much easier for the Kremlin to bully and intimidate individual states,” Biden said, calling the EU to stand by Ukraine in their ongoing struggle to preserve their sovereignty and return Crime back to Kiev. Biden’s remarks are scripted for him by 58-year-old Secretary of State Tony Blinken or his speech writers, doubtful that Joe understands what’s at stake. If the EU moves ahead with its threat to slap Russia with economic and travel sanctions, Putin has threatened to break off diplomatic relations. What’s Biden going to do then, break off U.S. diplomatic relations with Moscow to show solidarity with Brussels because they lack common sense?
Munich’s Security Conference should address what looks like an upcoming serious mistake to sanction Moscow over Alexi Navalny. Whether admitted to or not, the Navalny situation is an internal Russian issue, not worth breaking off diplomatic relations with Moscow. Navalny is no pro-Democracy activist worthy of wrecking U.S. and EU relations with Moscow. World order and peace depend on a respectful alliance with Moscow, solving world problems in hot spots around the globe. Biden’s tough talk about Putin got the EU nowhere in 2014 when Putin invaded Crimea. If the EU or Ukraine pushes Russia to the brink, Brussels can’t count on the U.S. to send troops to Ukraine or other parts of Eastern Europe or the Middle East. “The last four years have been hard, but Europe and the U.S. have to lead with confidence once more,” Biden said. “I know we can do this,” just like Obama and Biden did in 2014.
