Traveling to Tehran to meet 83-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 69-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin dispelled Ukrainian intelligence reports that he was suffering from a terminal illness and on his last legs. Even CIA Director William Burns took notice saying it was “wishful thinking” that Putin suffered from a life-threatening illness. Meeting Khamenei and Iran’s conservative President Ebrahim Raisi, Putin was in Tehran to make deals or at leas coordinate economy strategy in the era of =crippling U.S. and EU sanctions for the Ukraine War. Khaemeni gave Putin a full-throated endorsement of his Ukraine War, saying the United States instigated the action by supplying Kiev with advanced lethal weapons. Russia and Iran have much in common surviving U.S. sanctions. Putin’s found a way to circumvent U.S. and EU sanctions, selling cheap oil to China and India.
Putin and Khamenei discussed a full range of regional issues, including the ongoing war in Syria. Putin was greeted in Tehran by NATO member 68-yea-old Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has his own interests in Syria, where an 11-year-old civil war has decimated the country. Only after Putin got involved in 2015 in Syria, did the Kremlin beat back U.S.-Saudi-Turkiish proxy war that cost Syria over 600,000 lives, driving 15 million citizens into exile. “War is a violent and difficult issues, and the Islamic Republic is in no way happy that civilians get caught up in it, but concerning Ukraine, had you [Putin] not the initiated, the other side [U.S.] would have taken the initiative and caused the war,” Khamenei told Putin. Khameni agrees with Putin that NATO has been a bullying force in Eastern Europe, now encroaching on countries like Iran in the Middle East.
Khaemeni sees that if Russian didn’t invade Ukraine, there would be no way to stop NATO encroachment in Eastern Europe and the Mideast. “NATO is a dangerous entity. The West is totally opposed to a strong independent Russia. If the way is opened for NATO, it will recognize no limits. If it hadn’t been stopped in Ukraine, it would have later started a similar war in Crimea,” Khaemnei said. Knowing Khamenei’s words, it’s hard to believe Biden actively seeks a new Iranian Nuke Deal, trying to reverse former President Donald Trump’s May 8m 2018 termination of the Iranian Nuke Deal. Biden’s response to the Ukraine War has caused so much damage to U.S. and EU financial markets, sparking the worst inflation in 40 years. Biden didn’t anticipate how a boycott of Russian oil [10% of the World supply] would cause shortages and skyrocketing prices, prompting Biden to beg Saudi Arabia for more oil.
Whatever happens to the Ukraine War, it’s going to be a cold day in hell before Biden reestablishes pragmatic relations with Russia. Biden’s done many things to provoke Russia and China, watching the worst relations in post-WW II history. Biden’s March 26 gaffe in Warsaw, Poland, telling the world that Putin must go, shocked world leaders, realizing the Ukraine War had morphed into a U.S. proxy war against the Russian Federation. So, instead of resolving a border dispute between Ukraine and Russia, the world must contend with the U.S. seeking to topple Putin’s government. Biden’s foreign policy drove Russia and China into a close economic alliance. When Biden boycotted the Beijing Winter Olympics, Putin made certain that he would have the backing of Beijing. Biden tried but failed to get 69-year-old Chinese President Xi Jinping to public denounce Putin.
Putin’s latest visit to Tehran indicates that Iran backs the Kremlin’s fight against the United States. Tehran wants no part of any war against the United States but backs Russian Ukraine War, accomplishes the same thing. Biden no longer has pragmatic relations with Russia and China, leaving the U.S. isolated on the world stage. All Biden can do is boast about his relations with the European Union and NATO, leaving Iran to seek membership in the BRICS economic bloc, including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, all of which remain neutral on the Ukraine War. Biden can’t get his coalition against Russia to extend much beyond the EU, leaving Putin plenty of opportunity to sell Russian oil into world markets. Biden won’t admit that he’s lost the Ukraine war on the battlefield but, more importantly, the economic war he planned against the Russian Federation.
Biden has more complications in U.S. foreign policy, watching 68-year-old Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan join the meeting in Tehran. Erdogan, a member of NATO, likes to play both sides against the middle, taking a benign position on the Ukraine War. Erdogan has no love of U.S. foreign policy since Biden supports the YPG Kurds in Syria, a group Erdogan considers a terrorist grioup like the PKK, a group Turkey’s been at war with for 100 years. Erdogan practically scuttled Finland and Sweden’s entrance into NATO because of support of Kurdish groups, considered an enemy of the Turkish state. Ukraine’s war has caused U.S. adversaries to join together in a coalition against the United States. China is close to breaking off diplomatic relations to the U.S., coming to blows over Taiwain. Unless Biden ends the Ukraine War soon, the world will look like a different place.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
