President Joe Biden, 79, speaking at NATO security conference in Madrid, said the U.S. would deploy more troops to Europe, bringing the total to 100,000, all because of the Feb. 24 Ukraine War. Biden said it was necessary to send more U.S. troops to Europe as a deterrent to 69-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin, who Washington claims has his sights on other European countries. Biden has offered zero intel to confirm that Putin wants to move the Russian army to other sites in Europe, only the talking points used by Ukraine’s 45-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky who asks the U.S. and European Union for more cash and weapons. At various times, Zelensky has asked for much more than arms-and-cash, asking the U.S. and NATO to set up no-fly-zones and send troop into Ukraine. Biden and EU leaders vigorously resisted sending troops to avoid starting WW III.
Zelensky has no reservations at all about cajoling Biden and other EU leaders into sending troops to battle the Russian Federation. Over four months into the war, Zelensky has lost his entire Black Sea coast to the Russian Federation. While Zelensky likes to talk about the heroics of the Ukrainian military, he’s lost the strategic Black Sea coast and all its ports to the Russian Federation, essentially land-locking Ukraine, partitioning the country from Kiev. Biden’s announcement today in Madrid only grandstands, sending a feckless message to the Kremlin because, so far, Biden and the EU have refused to commit troops to Ukraine. So with all the plans to expand U.S. military presence, there’s little Biden can do to stop the Kremlin from taking more Ukrainian land, not to mention destroying infrastructure and killing innocent civilians. Biden also touted Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership.
Biden sees Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership as a slap in the face to Putin, when, in fact, it was entirely predictable. Sweden and Finland, without formally announcing NATO membership, have rallied with the Western Alliance for years, something that has no impact on the Kremlin. Everything with Biden and Zelensky at this point is about symbolically getting back at Putin. But clearly, when it comes to Ukraine, Putin has his way with the country, now seizing some 25% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory but, more importantly, the entire strategic Black Sea coast. Ukraine finds itself losing more and more ground to the Kremlin, now in a pitched battle for the Donbas town of Lysychansk, where Ukrainian troops are under siege. Russian troops have Ukrainian forces on the ropes in Lysychansk, where Russian forces continue to seize yet one more strategic town in the region.
Each time Russia seizes new territory, it’s completely ignored by Biden and Zelensky, who likes to put on a public face but knows how much sovereign Ukrainian territory has been lost. Biden touts Sweden and Finland joining NATO as a major blow to Putin. But NATO knows for the last 50 years Sweden and Finland have always sided with the Western Alliance. Sending a new rotating army brigade to Romania, two squadrons of F-35s to Britain, U.S. air defense systems sent to Germany and Italy and increasing the fleet of U.S. destroyers to Spain, Biden hopes to send a loud message to Putin. “That’s exactly what he didn’t want but exactly what needs to be done to guarantee security in Europe,” Biden said in Madrid. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said beefing up NATO was exactly what Putin didn’t want but acknowledged it won’t make much difference.
Kremlin officials reacted harshly to Biden’s new NATO expansion. “The summit in Madrid confirms and consolidates this bloc’s policy of aggressive containment of Russia,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Rybakov. “We consider the expansion of the North Atlantic alliance to be a purely destabilizing factor in international affairs,” Rybakov said, disputing Biden’s notion that he’s intimidating the Kremlin. Zelensky continues to ask the U.S. and NATO for more advanced weapons systems. “We need much more modern systems, modern artillery,” Zelensky said. Zelensky acknowledged that the financial support “no less important than aid with weapons,” knowing his government is flat broke, relying 100% on U.S. tax dollars. Zelensky via Zoom link told the NATO summit as usual that he needs more advanced weapons systems, especially long-range rocket launchers.
Whether admitted to or not by Biden and Zelensky, Ukraine has lost its shirt to Moscow since the war started Feb. 24. Biden made the big mistake telling the world March 26 that he didn’t think Putin should stay as Russian president. When 69-year-old Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed April 26 that the goal of the U.S. military was to assure the Kremlin could no longer wage war, Putin took the war more seriously. Austin essentially said the U.S. was at war with the Russian Federation. “The Ukrainian side can stop everything before the start of today,”said Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “An order for the nationalist units to lay down their arms is necessary,” Peskov said, antagonizing Washington and Kiev. Despite losing so much sovereign territory, Biden and Zelensky still think they can win.
