Spending the last five weeks playing games with 69-year-old President Vladimir Putin, 79-year-old President Joe Biden repeated the same mistake he made March 1, 2014 when Putin marched the Russian army into Crimea. Biden complained about an “imminent “ Russian invasion for five weeks but did nothing to talk, discus and start to negotiate a more acceptable security arrangement with the Russian Federation. Instead he played cryptic Black Ops games trying to turn the world against Russia. Instead of averting today’s crisis in Eastern Ukraine, Biden created it by ignoring Putin’s many overtures to address security concerns. Biden’s thinks Putin has no right to complain about the U.S. and NATO supplying Ukraine with lethal weapons, which, one day can be used to re-capture Ukraine from Russian occupation. Biden finds himself more humiliated today then back in 2014.
Russia’s Duma’s Upper House voted Feb. 21 to give Putin the authority to move the Russian army into the Russian-speaking separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, both independent of the Kiev government. Putin’s decision to move his troops into Donbass as “peacekeepers” dumbfounded Biden, who, in the beginning, wouldn’t admit that Putin has “invaded” Ukraine. Biden said repeatedly over five weeks that any movement of Russian forces would trigger draconic U.S. sanctions, the likes of which Putin has never seen. But after Putin mover Russian troops into Donbass, Biden equivocated, not wanting to admit Putin “invaded” Ukraine. So all the chatter now involves how far Putin will go with the invasion, perhaps all the way to Kiev, according to 45-year-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Sullivan’s been hyping a full-scale Russian invasion for weeks.
Putin has zero reason to move his forces any further that Donbass, where the Peoples Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk want no part of the pro-Western Kiev government. Ukraine’s 43-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky is fit to be tied, knowing that there’s nothing he can do to get Russian troops out. Zelensky lambasted the U.S. and NATO before the latest invasion for not acting more decisively, including moving in U.S. and NATO forces to rebel the Russian invasion. Zelensky thinks the U.S. and NATO should fight Ukraine’s battles with the Russian Federation. Biden has no answer for Putin other than to slap the Russian Federation with more throw-away sanctions, having little practical value. Zelensky accused Putin of wrecking peace talks, especially the Minsk format, where Germany and France helped broker in 2015 an end to hostilities in Donbass, claiming about 14,000 lives.
Zelensky talked like he would mobilize the newly armed Ukrainian army to repel the Russian military from Donbass. But the more he thought about it, he realized that it’s pure fantasy. Zelensky won’t admit that Donbass has been lost to Ukraine for the last eight years, after a Feb. 22, 2014 CIA-backed coup toppled the Kremlin-backed Kiev government of Viktor Yanukovych. Zelensky railed in the U.N. Security Council emergency meeting that Russia violated Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. But if Donbass was not coming back to Kiev, why is Putin’s move such a slap in the face to Biden and Zelensky? Biden did nothing as Vice President in 2014 to stop Putin’s from annexing Crimea. Biden backed the CIA-coup that chased Yanukovych out of Kiev. Zelensky rambled on in the Security Council meeting about diplomacy, after letting Biden and NATO arm Ukraine to the teeth.
Talking about diplomacy doesn’t mean Zelensky had any intention of turning away U.S. and NATO weapons. “We are committed to the peaceful and diplomatic path, we ill follow it and only it,” Zelensky said. “But we are on our own land, we are not afraid of anything and anybody, we own nothing to no one, and we will give nothing to no one,” hinting that he’d order the Ukrainian army to repel Russian forces. Zelensky doesn’t understand why Biden told him the “U.S. has Ukraine’s back,” but won’t commit any troops to battle the Russian Federation. He just can’t fathom that Russia is Ukraine’s problem, not the U.S. or European Union’s. Following a diplomatic path is not allowing Ukraine, that sits on Russia’s border, to receive endless supplies of U.S. and NATO offensive and defensive weapons. Like Biden, Zelensky completely ignored Putin’s requests for security guarantees.
Zelensky has been pushing for NATO membership since taking office May 20, 2019. For eight years since Putin seized Crimea, NATO rejected Ukraine because its been in a low intensity war with Moscow. “We expect clear and effective steps of support from our partners,” Zelensky said. What’s more clear than receiving lethal weapons from the U.S. and NATO. “It is very important to see who is our real friend and partner, and who will continue to scare the Russian Federation with words,” Zelensky said, hinting, only a real friend would commit troops to defend Ukraine. Biden fell right into Zelensky’s trap since taking office Jan. 20, 2021. Biden was willing to trash U.S.-Russian relations to exploit Ukraine’s fledgling democracy. Now that Biden’s been checkmated by Putin in Donbass, it’s time for the White House to stop playing games and start negotiating for peace.
