White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, 45, warned again of a Russian invasion of Ukraine “any day now,” spreading panic in Ukraine, prompting a rebuke by 40-year-old Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. “Apocalyptic predictions” paint the wrong picture about Ukraine, whose country is strong and prepared for any contingency. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Miley didn’t help matters saying that Kiev would fall to a Russian invasion in 72 hours. What’s the messaging from the Biden White House, spreading preposterous scenarios, now resulting in the Kremlin saying all nuclear arms talks with the U.S. are off the table until legally binding security arrangement are made about Ukraine’s NATO membership and the flow of arms into the Black Sea country. President Joe Biden’s national security team are making a bad situation worse.
Whatever the motives of the White House whipping the world into a frenzy over Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has the upper hand, partnering with Beijing to denounce the U.S. policy, allowing NATO to recklessly supply unlimited lethal conventional arms to Ukraine, a country that borders the Russian Federation. What Biden’s doing in Ukraine is the equivalent of what the Soviet Union did in 1962 setting up nuclear weapons on Cuba, 90-miles from Key West, Florida. Biden’s hype about Ukraine has created in growing international crisis, disrupting life in the European Union, now in a lather over the prospects of war on the European Continent. Kuleba asked the Biden White House to stop spreading rumors about an “imminent” Russian invasion when there are no Russian tanks in Kiev or elsewhere. Kuleba told the White House that Ukraine is not the “Titanic” waiting to sink.
When your so-called ally rebukes the White House for reckless exaggeration, there are serious communication gaps. “Today, Ukraine has a strong army, unprecedented international support and Ukrainians’ faith in their country,” Kuleba said, countering White House statements, like Miley’s that Kiev could fall in 72 hours. Miley’s statement is especially egregious when you consider that any Russian invasion would only, if at all, be confined to the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine near the Russian border, where pro-Russian separatists want no part of the Kiev government. So why is Miley, of all people, talking about an invasion of Kiev? White House communication experts want Biden to look like the hero if Russia doesn’t invade, claiming that his gunboat diplomacy worked to deter Putin from invading. Putin’s actions aren’t correlated to Biden.
When Sullivan says an invasion could occur “any day now,” he’s spreading the same tall tales as Miley, all because a “non-invasion” makes Biden look like a hero. With the Midterm elections 10 months away and Biden’s aggregate approval ratings at 41.3%, the White House looks for a dramatic victory. But there’s no victor in the White House strategy itching to pick a fight with Putin, destabilizing the Western Alliance. Whatever minor troop deployments the Pentagon sends to Eastern Europe, it has zero bearing on the Ukraine situation, only symbolic support for NATO allies. But U.S. troop deployments have been a slap in the face to Putin, while the U.S. tries, at least in public, to follow a diplomatic path. French President Emmanuel Macron met with Putin today in the Kremlin, in another effort to de-fuse a ticking time bomb in Ukraine, pushed largely by the Biden White House.
At some point European allies will get fed up with Biden’s overly aggressive approach with Putin. Macron’s mission in Moscow hopes to get the European Union more on the same page when it comes to Putin’s concerns about NATO encroachment in Eastern Europe. Putin wants NATO to ban Ukraine from future membership and to stop supplying lethal arms and anti-missile defense systems to Ukraine. Macron found out today that Putin wants security guarantees that NATO stop its strategic advantage over the Russian Federation. “We must help the NATO countries bordering Russia and strengthen them also from a military point of view,” said EU Economics Commissioner Pablo Bentilioni Sunday. “We must also be prepared for economic reactions and sanctions if there is a deterioration,” referring to any type of Russian invasion in the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine.
When you consider all the diplomatic hubbub caused White House in Ukraine you’d think that someone in the EU would tell Biden to back off his confrontation with Putin. Macron found out today that Putin isn’t out for blood, he’s out for some equity in the NATO-Kremlin security balance in the European Continent. After meeting with Putin, Macron will return from his visit with a new message to the U.S. and NATO to resolve the Ukraine crisis diplomatically. Biden cannot just pretend that Putin has no valid concern about Russian National Security when the U.S. and NATO arm Ukraine to the teeth on the Russian border. Time to Macron to deliver a different message to the Western Alliance about resolving the Ukraine crisis: Time for the U.S. and NATO to stop stoking war on the European Continent, listen to Putin’s requests and offer some reasonable concessions.
