Acting like the American bully calling the shots, 78-year-old President Joe Biden continues on a dangerous path with 68-year-old Russian President Vladimir, Putin slapping the Russian Federation with more sanctions, including expelling 10 Russian diplomats. Biden’s disconnect with reality is both alarming and dangerous to not only U.S. interests but to countries like Ukraine complaining about a build up of Russian troops and military hardware on their border. Biden spoke with Putin April 10, telling the Russian president he wanted a summit to discuss a full range of issues. Today’s announcement of new sanctions guarantees that a summit won’t take place anytime soon or, if it does take place, it will be more frosty than Siberia in the Winter time. Biden’s actions against Russia since taking office have driven U.S.-Russian relations to 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis lows.
Biden’s extreme anti-Russian actions ironically resonate with war hawks on Capitol Hill, like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who backs a tough stance on Russia. But for all practical purposes, once Biden called Putin a “soulless killer” March 16, U.S.-Russian relations hit rock bottom. Biden was prompted into his ill-advised insult by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos who baited him into making the gaffe. Putin responded afterward, saying, “it takes one to know one,” but later challenged Biden March 18 to a live Internet debate to let the world see Biden in action without his teleprompter. Biden, of course, ignored the invitation. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, 42, said the new sanctions were a punishment for Putin’s ongoing occupation of Crimea. Putin invaded Crimea March 1, 2014 when Biden served as Vice President under former President Barack Obama.
Putin invaded Crimea in response of a Feb. 22, 2014 CIA-backed coup that toppled the Kremlin-backed government of Viktor Yanukovych. Putin watched helplessly while hosting the Sochi Winter Olympics. One week after the closing ceremony, Putin invaded Crimea. So when the Psaki said the new sanctions were meant as payback, some seven years too later. Psaki also justified new sanctions for unconfirmed reports that Russia paid bounties to the Taliban to attack American troops in Afghanistan. Psaki admitted that the U.S. has “low to moderate “ confidence Russia paid bounties. For the last four years, the U.S. intel community did everything possible to discredit former President Donald Trump 2016 election victory. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton used her bogus Steele Dossier to accuse Trump of colluding with Russia.
So, if you get the latest round of sanctions right, they’re built on pure speculation from partisan intel agencies, all of which sought to discredit Trump 2016 win over Hillary, but, more importantly, to accuse Trump of serving as a Russian asset. It took former Special Counsel Robert Mueller $40 million and 22 months to determine Trump had no ties to the Kremlin. Yet the same voices now accuse Putin of meddling in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Biden and his 58-yuear-old Secretary of State Tony Blinken have demanded that Putin release Russian dissident Alexi Navalny from prison. If that’s not meddling in Russia’s internal affairs thnn what is? Yet Biden says he wants a summit with Putin to do what? Smear the Russian president with unverified intel reports speculating about election interference or Russian bounties on U.S. troops, certainly nothing concrete.
Psaki, speaking for Biden, went out of her lane, justifying new sanctions on the Kremlin. “We still feel there are questions to be answered by the Russian government,” Psaki said, sound incredulous, slapping the Kremlin with sanctions, when “there are questions to be answered.” If nothing’s definite, what’s the White House doing punishing Russia? “We are going to be clear to Russia that there will be consequences when warranted,” Psaki said, not realizing that the real consequences will be to Ukraine or other parts of the globe when Putin decides he must annex more territory to defend Russian national security against U.S. aggression. Psaki admitted that there “are questions” for Russia, doesn’t sound like a justification for new sanctions. Whatever Biden proposes in the way of a future summit, he all but killed any future U.S.-Russian relations during his term as president.
Responding to Biden’s sanctions quickly, Kremlin spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the U.S. “aggressive behavior” would lead to an “inevitable” response and “pay” a price for imposing new sanctions. Sanctions “are proportionate measures to defend American interests in response to harmful Russian actions, including cyber intrusions and election interference,” said National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Sullivan was with Blinken when they insulted China March 16 in an Anchorage, Alaska summit, accusing China of committing genocide against Muslim Uyghurs. No, Sullivan insists the sanctions are “proportionate,” when the so-called Russian act was not on U.S. government computer systems but on SolarWinds network management software update. If SolarWinds has such lousy cybersecurity, why should Russia be blamed? Biden’s national security teams keeps digging itself a deeper hole.
