Showing how the United States and European Union work at cross purposes, 44-year-old French President Emmanuel Macron met with 69-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin to find a way out of the current Ukraine crisis. Putin responded favorably to Macron’s efforts but said it’s premature to conclude that one meeting would resolve a complex problem. Putin asked 79-year-old President Joe Biden and NATO to ban Ukraine from NATO membership, but, more importantly, to stop supplying lethal arms to Kiev’s pro-Western government. While Macron bent over backwards in the name of peace, Biden met with newly minted German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House, seeking a guarantee that he would not move ahead with the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline with Russia if Putin invades Ukraine for the second time since March 1, 2014.
Putin told Macron that the Russian Federation seeks an immediate halt to NATO expansion in Eastern Europe. “We are categorically against any further NATO expansion eastward because it pose a threat to us,” Putin told the press after his meeting with Macron. “It’s not us who’s advancing to NATO, it’s NATO coming to us and so it’s illogical to talk about Russia’s aggressive behavior.” Putin said. Western countries, especially the U.S., blame Putin for invading Ukraine March 1, 2014, seizing the Crimean Peninsula. Western states and the media refuse to admit that a Feb. 22, 2014 CIA-backed, pro-Western coup toppled the Kremlin-backed government of Viktor Yanukovych. With Yanukovych out of power, Putin’s Sevastopol naval base was threatened, prompting the Russian leader to annex Crimea. No Western power admits what happened in 2014.
Biden and his national security team led by 59-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken and 45-year-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan have hyped an “imminent” Russian invasion, saying Putin’s 100,000-plus troops near the Ukrainian border prove that an invasion is “imminent.” Putin has said repeatedly that he has no plans to invade Ukraine—and why should he? He already controls Crimea which protects his naval base so what possible reason would Putin have to invade Ukraine. Showing how far the U.S. hype goes, 63-year-old Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of State Gen. Mark Miley said Feb. 6 that Russian could seize Kiev in 72 hours. What kind of nonsense is that? If Putin made any move in Ukraine, it would be to annex Donbass in eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian separatists want no part of the pro-Western Kiev government led by 43-year-old former comedian Volodymir Zelensky.
Just as Macron made diplomatic headway, Biden quashed his efforts insisting that Germany block the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if Putin invades. But when you think of all the White House hype of an “imminent” invasion, now Miley talks about Putin invading Kiev infuriated the Kremlin. Macron’s hard work must be recognized by European Council President Ursula von der Leyen and European Commission President Charles Michel. EU leaders must put Biden on notice that if he doesn’t stop his belligerent attitude, the EU would speak for itself directly with Putin. Biden doesn’t understand that he’s imposing himself on Scholz when, in fact, Nord Stream 2 was a separate business transaction between Russia and Germany. What right does Biden have to squeeze Germany?
Biden’s approach to diplomacy with Putin has been to tell the Russian leader to pound sand. Already saying publicly that the U.S. will not put boots on the ground in Ukraine, what’s Biden doing pushing the situation to the brink? If Biden wished to go to war with Russia, over Ukraine or anything else, he should debate the matter in Congress, not suck Germany into his madness. Whatever Biden and his national security team thinks Putin’s doing, he should not pressure Germany into changing its contractual obligations. Biden public statements that he would not commit U.S. troops to protect Ukraine in the even of a Russian invasion should exclude him from further discussions on Ukraine. How can the EU take Biden seriously knowing he would not put U.S. boots on the ground in Ukraine or elsewhere to stop a Russian invasion? Brussels should tell Biden to stop interfering.
Deploying more troops the Eastern Europe, Biden didn’t shore up NATO, he’s deliberately provoking Putin into a military response. EU officials should remind themselves that if Biden creates a war on the European Continent, he has no intent to lending help. EU officials, including Germany, must get to the point where they see Biden’s personal vendetta with Putin but want no part of it. So far, Biden has sucked the EU into his vendetta with Putin, but, if he pushes things to war, Biden says he won’t commit U.S. troops. That tells Brussels everything they need to know about Biden’s madness with the Russian Federation. Ukraine needs to work with the Minsk Protocol to resolve remaining issues with Putin. If Zelensky wants Putin out of Crimea, he should offer Putin a 99-year-lease to continue his Sevatopol naval base, not threaten the Russian Federation with unending war.
