When 79-year-old President Joe Biden talks on the phone with 69-yar-old Russian President Vladimir Putin, things couldn’t be more tense when it comes to NATO’s encroachment in Ukraine. Putin has made his “red lines” clear that he won’t tolerate any NATO involvement in Ukraine due to what happened Feb. 22, 2014. Putin sat in Sochi hosting the Winter Olympics when a CIA-backed coup led by former heavyweight boxer Vitali Klitschko toppled the duly elected, Kremlin-backed government of Viktor Yanukovych. No Western official, in the U.S., European Union or NATO, mentions anything about the CIA-backed coup that drove Yanukovych out of Kiev. Yet the world condemned Putin for his March 1, 2014 invasion and annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, home to Russia’s warm water fleet in Sevastopol. Biden and NATO complain about Russia’s troop build up near Ukraine.
Biden wants assurances from Putin that he won’t seize more Ukrainian territory, something Putin won’t guarantee until Biden agrees to keep NATO away from Ukraine. Ukraine’s 43-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky has begged NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg for membership to no avail. Stoltenberg understands the burden on NATO to defend a Russian attack, something the Alliance wants to avoid at all costs. Whatever Biden says to Putin when they speak on the telephone, he’s not going to threaten Putin about a possible regional war against Russia. Since taking office Jan. 20, Biden and his 59-year-old Secretary of State Tony Blinken have alienated Russia and the People Republic of China, to the point that Chinese President Xi Jinping is ready to confront the U.S. on the battlefield if it defends Taiwan. Biden’s pushed the world closer to the brink since taking office.
When it comes to Ukraine, there’s zero national security interest the U.S. has in the region other that so-called prestige of the U.S. naval or military presence in the Black Sea region. Putin has tried to remind Biden that the U.S. has no strategic interest in Ukraine other that watching Putin seize the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. While the U.S., EU and NATO were up in arms, they never explained to the Western press what happened, with the CIA backing Klitschko’s Kiev coup. Zelensky knows there were consequences from toppling the Yanukovych government, including Putin moving the Russian army into Crimea. But Biden must look at the big picture that the U.S. relationship with Moscow is far more important than doing Zelensky’s bidding, hoping to get the U.S. military into a war in Ukraine. When Putin talks to Biden, he’ll ask for a guarantee to keep NATO out of Ukraine.
Biden has wrecked the linkage in U.S. foreign policy where relations with U.S. adversaries help preserve U.S. national security. Burning bridges with China and Russia has limited U.S. influence around the globe. When it comes with hot spots like Iran and North Korea, Biden can no longer count of Russia or China for help manage global conflicts. When it comes to Ukraine, there’s no national security significance in the region. Putin considers Ukraine and the Black Sea his back yard because it borders Russia’s southern-most territory. Biden wants assurances from Putin that he won’t annex more territory in Ukraine. U.S, EU an NATO all worry about Putin amassing so many military assets, some 94,000 troops along the Ukraine border, a sheer sign that Moscow wants the U.S. to back off threats to move NATO into the Black Sea region to protect Ukraine.
Biden’s next diplomacy with Putin should spend time on what the two countries can do to enhance each other’s national security. As long a Biden buys into Zelensky’s complaints, Biden will push Putin the wrong way. Zelensky has nothing to offer the U.S. other than the pretence of presumed ally willing to confront the Kremlin. Since Putin invaded Crimea March 1, 2014, Zelelnsky claims that 14,000 Ukrainians have lost their lives in armed conflict with Russia. But what Zelensky doesn’t tell Biden is that Russian-speaking enclaves in Crimea and the Donbass region want no part of Klitschko’s Kiev government. Ukrainians don’t think that the Kiev government does much for Ukraine. “Creating such threats [in Ukraine] would be red lines for use. But I hope it doesn’t come to that. I hope that a sense of common sense, responsibility for both our countries and the world community will prevail,” Putin said.
Before Biden pushes the U.S. closer to the brink, he needs to stop threatening Putin with so-called consequences if he tries to annex more Ukrainian territory. Putin wants Biden to commit that the U.S, EU and NATO will stay out of the Black Sea region. Biden has hurt U.S. national security by antagonizing Russia and China, to the point that both countries openly talk about confronting the U.S. Biden knows the U.S. lacks the resources to get into a conflict with either Russia or China. Instead of finding common ground to reduce tensions, Biden thinks he can wield a big stick, constantly threatening the two countries with military action. Whatever issues remain with China and Taiwan or with Russia and Ukraine, it’s not in U.S. national security to defend either country. Biden should tell Zelensky and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to work out their problems with Russia and China, not expect the U.S. to fight their battle.
