What 44-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky can’t win on the battlefield, it doesn’t stop him for scoring more propaganda points with the international community. Today, Zelensky asked that Russia be branded a “state sponsor of terrorism,” something the Senate passed with a non-binding resolution July 7. Sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the non-binding resolution is meaningless, largely because it’s not embraced by the State Department. At a time the White House is consumed with getting WNBA star Britney Griner out of a Russian jail, Graham and Blumenthal’s resolution does nothing to help Griner get out. “So the practical effects of what we’re doing are the same,” said 59-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken, also aware that more belligerent rhetoric against the Kremlin doesn’t help Griner’s fate.
Blinken more than agrees with Graham and Blumenthal’s non-binding Senate Resolution, having spoken with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov July 29 for the first time since Feb. 24, the start of the Ukraine War. President Joe Biden, 79, has driving U.S.-Russian relations to post WW II lows, on the verge of breaking off diplomatic relations. Blinken hasn’t helped things, taking 100% Ukraine’s side in the over five-month old conflict. Biden not only takes Ukraine’s side, he’s supplied Ukraine unlimited cash-and-arms to fight a U.S.-backed proxy war against the Russian Federation. So, when the Senate approved a non-binding Resolution branding Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, it drives more of wedge in U.S.-Russian relations. Whatever chance Griner had of getting out a Russian jail, Biden and Blinken’s overt hostility toward Moscow hasn’t helped her cause.
Zelensky welcomes the Senate non-binding resolution to further his war propaganda about the Russian Federation. “Russia has proved with numerous terrorism attacks that it is the biggest source of terrorism in today’s world,” Zelensky said, showing exactly why Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia’s aim in Ukraine is greater than Donetsk and Luhansk. Russia’s U.N. Amb. Vasily Nabenzya said that Russia would finish its “special military operation” in Ukraine designed to demilitarize the country. Zelensky called “deliberate mass murder,” a Russian missile attack that killed over 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war. Zelensky preaches to the Western choir calling Russia a state sponsor of terror. Zelensky knows he’s in a bloody proxy war against the Russia Federation with both sides taking high casualties. If Zelensky wants the carnage to stop, he needs to go to the peace table.
Whatever attack occurred in Olenivka in the Peoples Republic of Donetsk that killed 53 Ukrainian prisoners, Zelensky should look to the peace table to end the conflict. More lethal U.S. arms won’t turn around the conflict, forcing the Russia army to dig in further won’t stop the kind of carnage Zelensky calls war crimes. Zelensky thinks if he wins the propaganda battle continuing to demonize the Russian Federation that helps his cause. Winning the propaganda battle doesn’t get Zelensky back any of the sovereign territory he’s lost in the last five months. More fighting on the battlefield won’t necessarily get back lost Ukrainian territory, or continue to escalate the conflict. Hearing Britsh MI6 reports of the Russian military wearing down gives Zelensky and Biden hope that they can beat the Russian military. “Russia is running out of steam,” said Richard More, head of Britain’s MI6.
Zelensky likes to hear about U.S. and British assessments of Russian losses in the five-moth old conflict. Zelensky doesn’t like talking about Ukrainian casualties estimated at equally staggering, slowing down the pace of the war. Most military experts see the conflict as a war of attrition at this point, with neither side making progress. To get back whole, Ukraine would have to reclaim some 25% of Ukraine’s lost territory, especially around the Black Sea coast with all its strategic ports. “The Kremlin is growing desperate,” said Moore, repeating more British war propaganda doing no service to Ukraine. Whatever the damage assessments by the U.S. and U.K., both know that Ukraine has lost a staggering about of sovereign territory, leaving prospects of peace more dismal. Biden said he wanted Ukraine to win back its lost territory before going to the peace table.
Zelensky likes Graham and Blumenthal’s non-binding Senate Resolution branding Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. But instead of helping get Britney Griner out of a Russian jail, Graham and Blumenthal has made the negotiation for costly for the U.S. When two countries are at war, it’s difficult to brand one a terrorist state because you’ve taken sides. Biden let his feelings known March 26 when he said that Putin should no longer remain Russian president. Once Biden turned the conflict in to a U.S. proxy war against the Russian Federation, he made it more difficult for Ukraine to win. Putin understands after the long twilight Cold War that the U.S. considers Russia an enemy. In no administration has this become more clear than the Biden White House. Whatever pretense existed about U.S.-Russian relations, Biden laid naked the hatred he has for Moscow—now at war with the Kremlin.
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.
