Saber-rattling before the U.S.-Russian summit in Geneva June 16, 78-year-old President Joe Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that he will hold the Kremlin accountable for recent ransomware attacks on U.S. industries, including the Colonial Pipline, and, most recently, JBS Foods, the Brazillian-owned largest meat packer in the United States. FBI Directory Christopher Wray, 54, compared the spate of ransomware attacks to Sept. 11, where Osama bin Laden flew jetliners into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Comparing rasomware attacks to Sept. 11, Wray mirrored the Biden Administration approach that views cyber attacks as acts of war. If Biden enters the Geneva summit accusing the Kremlin to sponsoring ransomware attacks on the United States, it won’t the summit will deteriorate quickly. Putin has signaled that he won’t let the summit plunge into a name-calling session.
Speaking at an economic forum in St. Petersburg, Putin said that arms control, climate change, coronavirus pandemic and global conflicts would be on the table. But Putin also knows that Biden will crossover into human rights, especially persecution of 44-year-old Russian dissident Alexi Navalny, now serving a two-year-eight-month prison sentence in a Russian penal colony. “We need to find ways of luck for a settlement in our relations, which are at an extremely low level now,” Putin said, signaling to Biden to tread lightly on June 16. Putin won’t sit and be lambasted by Biden for cyber attacks, human rights abuses or Russian military build up near Ukraine. Putin expressed hope that U.S.-Russian relations could be repaired but not if Biden starts hurling accusations about Russian meddling in past U.S. elections or even recent cyber attacks from apparently Russian criminal gangs.
Putin’s ready for any attack on Russia’s human rights record, ready to bring up Washington brutal crackdown on Jan. 6 protesters. “They weren’t just a crowd of robbers and rioters. Those people had come with political demands,” Putin said, something 100% rejected by Biden and Democrats. Whatever Putin did with Alexi Navalny, the U.S. Congress treated former President Donald Trump with equal contempt, impeaching him for “incitement of insurrection,” a preposterous charge when you think the Jan. 6 rabble rousers spent more time on selfies than destroying government property. Biden will never agree with Putin about the civil rights of Jan. 6 protesters because the Democrat Party accuses them of insurrection, trying to overthrow the U.S. government. When House Democrats tried to make that case in the Senate trial, it was roundly rejected by U.S. Senators.
Putin followed closely the March 18 summit between the U.S. and Communist China in Anchorage, Alaska. Secretary of State Tony Blinken, 58, and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, accused Beijing on genocide on Muslim Uyghurs in China’s Western provinces. China rejected the charges out of hand, accusing the U.S. of a long history of abusing African Americans. So if Biden raises Russia’s alleged human rights abuses, Putin’s likely to fire back at U.S. hypocrisy. Putin told Russia’s Channel 1 that he doesn’t expect any breakthrough at the summit with Biden. Putin said he hopes to “create conditions for a taking further steps to normalize Russian-U.S. relations.” Putin rejected out of hand any involvement by Russian hackers in the Colonial pipeline and more recently Brazillian-based JBS meatpacking. “I heard something about the meat plant—it’s sheer nonsense . . .,” Putin said.
Putin plans to respond sharply to any suggestion that the Russian government is involved in recent cyber attacks on the Colonial Pipeline or JBS meatpacking plant. “We all understand it’s just ridiculous. A pipeline? It’s equally absurd,” Putin said, reminding the U.S. delegation not to get to caught up in anti-Russian propaganda coming from certain media circles. “It means that inside the American society, media and political class there are people who want to find ways to repair U.S-Russian relations,” Putin said. Putin and Biden can find much in common with climate change, where Putin expressed concerns about the melting of permafrost in Siberian cities. Biden’s made climate change an integral part of his national and global agenda, agreeing to stop selling the internal combustion engines in the U.S. by 2035. Putin and Biden can find common ground on climate change.
Biden’s being influenced by anti-Russian war hawks in his State Department and on Capitol Hill. If Biden wants to roll back the doomsday clock, he needs to park all the accusations at the door and find areas of agreement, especially about climate change and other potential global conflicts. Putin sees the new hacking allegations to “provoke new conflicts before our meetings with Biden,” warning Biden’s handlers to steer clear of topics bound to ratchet up tensions between Russia and the U.S. Putin plans to highlight the cooperation between the Kremlin and Berlin on the Nordstream 2 Pipeline, nearing completion to supply Germany with natural gas for years to come. Biden opposed the Nordstream because it gives the Russian Federation real leverage over Germany, and indirectly over the European Union [EU]. Before it’s too late, Biden’s agenda with Putin should be tightly limited to common ground.
