Threatening to send NATO into Ukraine, 78-year-old President Joe Biden said April 2 he stands shoulder-to-shoulder in Ukraine, putting Russian President Vladimir Putin on a war footing. When Biden was Vice President under former President Barack Obama he failed to confront Putin March 1, 2014 when he invaded Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. Obama and Biden talked about Ukraine joining NATO to defend itself against the Russian Federation. Seven years later, Biden now promises to back Ukraine in a possible Russian invasion of the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. Since taking office, Biden’s been hammering Putin over his meddling in past U.S. election and democracy, calling the 68-year-old Russian President a “soulless killer” March 16 because of his treatment of 44-year-old Russian dissident Alexi Navalny, now rotting in Russia’s IK-2 penal colony 100 kilometers east of Moscow.
Biden’s aggression toward Putin has put the world in peril, knowing that any move by 43-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to stage joint military exercises with NATO or join the Western Alliance would be seen as a red line for Putin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and Foreign Minister Servei Lavrov have warned Zelensky that any involvement with NATO could explode the region in a bloody war. Biden and his 58-year-old Secretary of State Tony Blinken have said they back Ukaine but don’t really know how the European Union would respond. As Germany completes the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline with Russia, it’s doubtful that Brussels would consent to defending Ukraine against the Russian Federation. Biden and Blinken act like they’re leading the Western Alliance, expecting NATO countries to rush to Ukraine’s defense.
Europe buys 40% of its natural gas and 30% of its petroleum from Moscow. No one in Brussels, no matter how tough they talk about Moscow, wants a military confrontation with Russia, despite recently slapping the Kremlin with new economic sanctions over Putin’s treatment of Navalny. Showing that he means business, Putin dispatched 10 Russian warships to the Black Sea, leaving the Crimean port of Sevastopol, where Russia houses its warm water fleet. Sending warships for maneuvers in the Black Sea, Putin reminds Washington and Brussels that NATO is no match to the Russian Federation. Unlike U.S. or NATO troops, they’re not use to the kinds of rapid deployments seen by Russia’s navy and army, now parked close to the Ukrainian border in the Donbass region. Zelensky has complained to Biden about Russia’s encroachment near the line of contact with Ukraine.
Biden and the U.S. intel community talk about Russia’s encroachment on U.S. election and democracy. When it comes to U.S. or EU interference in Russia’s internal affairs, no one from the West admits that they interfere with Russian national security all the time. When Biden tells Zelenssky he stands “shoulder-to-shoulder” with Ukraine, he’s meddling in Russia’s internal affairs. Biden and Blinken both ordered Putin to release Navalny from prison, something so inappropriate it smacks of hypocrisy. Biden has adopted jailed Russian dissident Navalny as the reason to call Putin a “soulless killer.” Biden blames Putin for trying to poison Navalny with a banned Soviet-era chemical weapons called Novichok. Putin denies any involvement in Navalny’s poisoning, something not believed by U.S. and EU officials. Biden looks poised to go to war with Russia over Navalny.
Going ahead with 4,000 drills in the Black Sea, the Russian navy sends a loud message to the U.S. and EU about what to expect if they try to bring NATO to the Black Sea to defend Navalny. No one in the West wants to see the desperation of Donbass residents, feeling abandoned by Kiev since Ukraine won its independence Aug. 24, 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union Dec. 25, 1991. Many residents of Donbass felt abandoned by Russia who paid pensions and aid to former civil servants. German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Putin today to remove his troops from the Russian border region near Donbass. Putin sees Zelensky as the provocateur for threatening to join NATO or engage in joint military exercises. Putin’s show of force in the Black Sea sends a message to Washington and Brussels that if they push him too far it’s going to turn out badly for Ukraine and the Western Alliance.
Biden and European Council President Ursula von der Leyen need to stop antagonizing Putin before they push the region into a military confrontation. Biden thinks he’s calling Putin’s bluff by telling Zelensky that he backs Ukraine joining NATO or engaging in military exercises. “As part of the winter training check, more than 10 amphibious and artillery boats and vessels of the southern military district are conducting an inter-fleet mover from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea,” said Russia’s Foreign Ministry. If Biden hasn’t seen enough yet, he’s not getting the message that he’s pushing the region into possible war with the U.S. It’s doubtful that anyone in the EU would not come to their senses and back down from any confrontation. Putin isn’t about to have NATO threaten Russia’s navy in the Black Sea. Zelesnsky needs to stop trying to suck NATO into a war with Russia.