Speaking at the annual Halifax Security Forum, 69-year-old Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tried to justify the U.S. role of supplying Ukraine unlimited cash-and-weapons. Unlike his colleague, Gen. Mark Miley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Austin’s speech made no mention of concluding the war, moving the conflict to the peace table. Austin told the meeting that nuclear-armed powers were bullying non nuclear powers with Russia and China leading the way undermining the rules-based-order. “Russia’s invasion offers a preview of a possible world of tyranny and turmoil that none of us would want to live in. And it’s an invitation to an increasingly insecure world haunted by of nuclear proliferation,” Austin said, giving the Western world the excuse for keeping the war going. Austin suggests the free world must defend democracy in Ukraine.
Austin told a military meeting in Ramstein, Germany April 26 that aim of the Ukraine War was to degrade the Russian Military to the point it could no longer wage war. President Joe Biden, 80, said a month earlier March 26 in Warsaw, Poland that Putin should not remain in power. So, taken together, Biden and Austin’s statements are not about defending Ukraine but prosecuting a proxy war using Ukrainian troops against the Russian Federation. Austin seeks to keep the war going indefinitely but telling the Halifax Security Forum that Russia and China must be stopped in their imperial ambitions to dominate the world. How anyone at the conference could accept Austin’s claptrap is anyone’s guess. Biden and Austin won’t admit that arming Ukraine with unlimited cash and lethal weapons prompted Putin Feb. 24 to stop the dangerous buildup of arms on its Ukraine border.
Listening to Austin, the White House has no plans to reconcile with Russia and China anytime soon, blaming both countries for imperial ambitions. “Because [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s a fellow autocrats are watching.. And could well conclude that getting nuclear weapons would give them a hunting license of their own. And that should drive a dangerous spiral of nuclear proliferation,” Austin said, mixing up nuclear proliferation with Russia and China’s attempts to defend their territories or spheres of influence. Austin knows that Russian and China have had nuclear arsenals for years but that has nothing do with what caused the Feb. 24 invasion. Biden decided get personal with the Ukraine War, saying that Putin should no longer remain Russian president. Austin wants Western security chiefs to think the U.S. fights to defend democracy in Ukraine.
Biden has lost his way, forgetting that since the end of WW II, Russia and China have gone their own separated directions. Referring to Russia and China as autocrats, how’s that supposed to create a peaceful world. Austin’s flawed logic completely reverses decades of peaceful coexistence with Communist regimes, especially Russia and China. But if you listen to Austin’s message, he’s asking Western security chiefs to join the U.S. war against Russia and China. Security chiefs in Halifax need to push back asking Austin why there’s no talk of ending the war? Austin’s speech was designed to justify the unending war, telling security chiefs that the U.S. fights a bigger war against Russian and Chinese tyranny. How’s that supposed to help get WNBA Brittney Griner get out of a Russian penal colony? How does Austin expect to improve diplomacy with Russia and China by calling them tyrants?
Austin paints an ominous picture about the dangers of democracy around the world, claiming the Ukraine War holds the line against Russian hegemony. Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky talks about the war as a fight to preserve democracy in Europe. Zelensky has told NATO that Putin’s real ambition is on taking over Europe, reestablishing the old Soviet Union. Unless some common sense prevails in Ukraine, it could escalate into WW III or nuclear war. Austin’s excuses that the U.S. defends democracy in Ukraine are preposterous. Since it’s independence in 1991, Ukraine had close ties with the Russian Federation, until a Feb. 22, 2014 CIA-backed, pro-Western coup toppled the Kremlin-friendly government of Viktor Yanukoych. Putin, who hosted the Sochi Winter Olympics, responded quickly March 1, 2024 annexing the Crimean Peninsula.
Austin’s simplistic claptrap should be rejected by all security chiefs attending the Halifax Security Forum. Talking about nuclear Armageddon last month, Biden raised anxiety in Brussels about the growing prospects of nuclear war. Using nuclear fear to justify the Ukraine War, Austin sold Halifax security chiefs a bill of goods, having nothing to with what’s happening in Ukraine. If the nuclear threat is higher today than the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, it’s because Biden has gone to war against the Russian Federation. No U.S. president since WW II has gone to war against the Kremlin. “Make no mistake: we will not be dragged into Putin’s war of choice. But we will stand by Ukraine as it fights to defend itself. And well will seek to defend every inch of NATO territory,” Austin said. Austin and Biden should be consumed to moving the conflict to peace table, not escalating the war.
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.
