President Joe Biden, 79, finds himself dazed-and-confused dealing with Russian President Vladimir Putin, getting conflicting advice from his 58-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Biden’s been told to challenge Putin in Ukraine where a recent build up of Russian forces on the Ukrainian border raised concerned about a new Russian invasion. U.S., European Union [EU] and NATO haven’t processed Putin’s March 1, 2014 takeover of the Crimean Peninsula. Washington and Brussels have practically stood on their heads to no avail to get Putin to return Crimea to Ukraine. Now the U.S. and EU worry that Putin could seize more Ukrainian territory, not knowing his next move. Biden’s been advised to continue selling Ukraine more lethal offensive weapons to serve as a deterrent to Russian aggression.
Putin’s recent troop build-up around the Ukraine border relates directly to the U.S. and U.K. sending more warships into the Black Sea, something Putin considers his backyard. “We’re not sure exactly what Putin is up to,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Nov. 17. “We don’t have clarity into Moscow’s intentions, but we do know its playbook,” Austin said, making incendiary comments. Austin’s been a part of the problem with U.S.-Russian relations since taking office. He’s part of the war hawk mentality that blames Russia or China for practically everything wrong in the world. Austin has been the worse Defense Secretary since Robert McNamara, when the U.S. thought nothing about bombing Vietnam into submission, despite knowing the war was un-winnable. Austin and Secretary of State Tony Blinken take the cake for failures with U.S. adversaries.
Blinken says he knows Putin’s game plan of taking over more Ukrainian terrtior, when, in fact, Putin has no such intentions. Putin doesn’t want more Ukrainian territory, the Russian people living in Ukraine want him to takeover more territory because they reject the Kiev government of 43-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky. It’s been Zelensky who’s practically stood on his head to suck the U.S. into a confrontation with the Russian Federation, hoping he could reclaim Crimea. But what Putin really wants in Ukraine is for the U.S. and NATO to stop meddling in local affairs, letting Ukraine and Russia work out their problems. Blinken and Austin miscalculate Putin’s intentions when, he really wants foreign powers to stay out of the Black Sea so he can resolve any remaining issues with the warring parties. Putin wants direct talks with Zelensky. Zelensky wants war.
Showing the extent to which Biden gets bad advice, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Il.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, tells Biden that the situation with Putin is too complicated for a fix. “This is a tough, tough area to try to gain information,” Quigley said. “It’s a challenge that’s as tough or tougher that it’s ever been. It has a pretty serious impact on our ability to make the correct decisions,” giving incoherent advice to Biden. Putin wants, plain-and-simple, for the U.S. and NATO to stop meddling in the Black Sea, to allow Ukraine and Russia to work out their problems. There’s noting complicated about what Putin wants. He simply wants the U.S. to stop sending in menacing warships into the Black Sea. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg doesn’t help things when he reports the obvious to Biden, that Putin has amassed more troops on the Ukraine border.
Putin has been forthcoming telling the press that the U.S. and NATO are making a bad situation worse in Ukraine. “It should be taken into consideration that Western partners are exacerbating the situation by supplying lethal modern arms to Kiev and carrying out provocative military maneuvers in the Black Sea—and not only in the Black Sea but also in other regions close to our borders,” Putin said. How much clearer can you get to Biden, Blinken and Austin. Russia has no interest in invading Ukraine, it wants the U.S. and NATO to stop sending in menacing patrols and supplying offensive weapons. If the U.S. wants to defuse the situation in Ukraine, Biden needs to call back the dogs, telling Austin to stop sending U.S. warships to the Black Sea. Putin wants the U.S. to heed his red lines, especially when it comes to Zelensky seeking NATO membership, something that could trigger an incident.
Biden needs to urgently sit down with Blinken and Austin and instruct them to stop making incendiary comments when it comes to Putin and the Russian Federation. Three are many foreign policy hot spots where Putin could be a great asset to the United States, if Biden’s national security team can bite their tongues and stop the anti-Kremlin rhetoric. “The traditional tools that nation-states use to govern behavior of other nation-states are not available,” said Douglas Wise, former deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. “The Russian have very little at risk,” sounding a warlike tone. Biden’s current national security team have an anti-Russia bias, painting U.S. foreign policy into a corner. What’s needed now is for Biden to stop antagonizing Putin or letting Zelensky influence U.S. foreign policy to give Ukraine more lethal weapons or NATO patrols in the region.
