Scheduled to meet for a summit in Geneva June 16, 78-year-old President Joe Biden has already signaled he’s going to press 68-year-old Vladimir Putin on human rights in Russia. Biden and his 58-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken tried the same strategy with China March 18 when they met for a get-to-know-you summit in Anchoarge, Alaska. Accusing China of genocide on its Muslim Uyghur population in Xinjiang province in Western China blew up on Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Before the same disaster happens in Geneva, Biden and Blinken must park their complaints at the door and try to find common ground. Since taking office Jan. 20, Biden has sent U.S.-China and U.S.-Russian relations plummeting to new Cold War lows. Things got so bad in recent months, the world watched anxiously whether Biden would confront the Russian Federation.
Biden and Blinken have hammered Putin on his treatment of 44-year-old Russian dissident Alexi Navalny, who’s spending the next two-and-a-half years in a Russian penal colony. Biden and Blinken, who’ve slammed Putin with interfering with American elections and democracy, insisted April 18 that Putin release Navalny from prison. If that’s no meddling with a sovereign state’s internal affairs then what is? Biden’s upcoming Geneva summit with Putin will head south quickly if Biden acts like the so-called leader of the Free World, taking on Russia. Putin has far more experience than Biden in world affairs, having served as Russian President for the last 20 years. If there’s any hope at mending fences and pushing back the doomsday clock, Biden and Blinken need to restrain their instincts to threaten Putin with more sanctions or, worse yet, military intervention.
Biden does not represent the European Union [EU] who, like Biden, likes to talk tough with Kremlin, while, at the same time, buying 40% of their petroleum and natural gas from the Russian Federation. When you consider Russia’s geographic proximity to Europe, no one in the EU wants a military confrontation with Moscow. Putin’s showed over the years that he’s able to easily seize former Soviet territory if he chooses. It irks NATO officials to no end that Putin seized the Crimean Peninsula March 1, 2014 with little or no resistance. While Ukraine’s 43-year-old President Zoloymyr Zelensky complains about Russian aggression on its eastern border, the U.S. and EU don’t want a confrontation with the Kremlin. Zelensky has pushed NATO for membership or at least war games, prompting Putin to threaten a military response. Zelensky wants to join NATO, regardless of its consequences.
Biden’s approach to Putin at the Geneva summits has to be on more friendly terms. It does no country any good to see the Russian Federation beefing up its military presence in Kaliningrad or any of Russia’s Western-most territories. Threats from NATO only make a bad situation worse, pushing Putin to take defense countermeasures that threaten Poland, the Baltic States and other former Soviet satellites. “The Americans must assume that a number of signals from Moscow . . . will be uncomfortable for them, including in the comings days,” said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Rybakov to Russsia’s RIA news agency. Putin doesn’t like NATO’s recent war games, prompting his own military moves to counter what he sees as Western aggression. Putin annexed Crimea March 1, 2014 only after a CIA-backed coup toppled the Kremlin-backed government of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
Whether Biden talks about Russian hacking or its military build up near the Ukrainaian border, Putin’s not going to acknowledge any responsibility. All of Zelensky’s overtures to NATO has left Putin no choice but to beef up his military presence near the Ukrainian border in eastern Ukraine. Bringing up Navalny would be a non-starter for Biden, again meddling in Russia’s internal affairs. Navalny finds himself in prison because he’s advocated for years toppling Putin’s government, development a chain of like-minded dissidents around Russia. Putin doesn’t want to hear how Navalny has become a Western symbol of Communist oppression. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said NATO activity in Eastern Europe has prompted Russia to take military countermeasures. To lower the temperature, Biden must reassure Putin that NATO has no intention of confronting Moscow.
Biden’s preconceived ideas of Russian aggression must be parked at the door before heading to Geneva. Threatening Putin will get nowhere, only pushing the world to the brink, something that isn’t wanted in Brussels. No one in the EU looks to confront the Russian Federation, preferring to stay clear of countries like Ukraine who continue to ask NATO to do its battles. Zelensky was surprised that NATO gave him the cold shoulder when it comes to NATO membership. Zelensky knows that NATO’s charter prohibits the Western Alliance from adopting countries in its “open door” policy that are actively involved in military confrontations. Ukraine continues to battle pro-Russian separatists in its eastern Russian-speaking frontier. “The actions of our Western colleagues are destroying the world’s security system and force us to take adequate countermeasures, Shoigu said.
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