U.S. Coast Guard said it’s been monitoring the movements of a Russian spy ship about 100 miles from Honolulu, reminding U.S. Coast Guard of the kind of patrols seen during the Cold War. U.S., of course, subscribes to open navigation on the open seas, as long as ships stay 12 miles off shore in international waters. U.S. Navy officials complained about Chinese trying to restrict U.S. navigation in international waters in the South China Sea where China claims territorial sovereignty. U.S. officials sued China in 2016 in the Hague’s International Court of Arbitration, ruling that China violated international rules of the open seas. China rejected the Hague’s ruling saying it didn’t subscribe to the Hague’s jurisdiction, but, more importantly, asserted its control over territorial waters in the South China Sea. Now the Coast Guard must accept it adherence to free-and-open navigation.
White House officials know the tensions with the Kremlin over the Ukraine War, where 80-year-old President Joe Biden wages a proxy war using Ukrainian troops against the Russian Federation. Biden’s the first U.S. president since WW II to wage war against the Russian Federation. Biden deviated from decades of U.S. foreign polity where the State Department did what it could to maintain pragmatic and cooperative relations with the Kremlin. Sending a surveillance ship near Hawaii sends a loud message to Biden that the Russian Navy reserves the right to go anywhere in international waters within striking distance for nuclear missiles to the United States and its allies. “As part of our daily operations, we track all vessels in the Pacific area through surface and air assets and joint agency capabilities,” said Cmdr. Dave Milne, chief of Coast Guards external affairs, raising some concern.
Milne said he’s coordinating wit the Department of Defense, watching the Russian spy ship movements only 100 miles off the island of Oahu.. Biden’s Ukraine proxy war has created a war-like atmosphere between Moscow and the U.S. in decades, worse than the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Back then, both nuclear-armed superpowers were not in a hot war with each other, only politically posturing for global supremacy. Biden crossed the line when he said March 26, 2022 in Warsaw, Poland that he didn’t think 70-year-old President Vladimir Putin should remain in power. Once month later, 69-year-old Defense Minister Lloyd Austin told an audience April 26. 2022 in Ramstein, Germany that the aim of the Ukraine War was to degrade the Russian military to the point it could no longer wage war. If that’s no a declaration of war against the Russian Federation, then what is?
Watching a Russian spy ship close to U.S. ports raises the high stakes of chicken played out on the high seas. If Biden wishes to mend fences with Putin, it’s going to take some major changes in U.S. foreign policy. Biden can’t fund a prosy war against the Kremlin and expect to lessen tensions with Russia. U.S. elected officials must decide whether they want to push the world to the brink of WW III or nuclear war. Putin said yesterday that he plans to increase the size of the Russian military to 1.5 million to make sure that he prevails in Ukraine. Biden operates under the misguided belief that he can keep funding the Ukraine government and war without serious fallout to the U.S. and world economy. Inflation has already forced the U.S. Fed to increase the Federal Funds rate 4.25% in the last six months, doubling mortgage interest rates, crashing the residential housing market.
Biden knows at some point he must give up the foolish decision to fund Ukraine to fight a proxy war with the Russian Federation. Putin said today at a defense-systems factory in St. Petersburg that the Russian military industrial complex has never been stronger. Whatever losses Russia’s incurred in Ukraine, Putin promised the Russian military base will ramp up production of all relevant military hardware. Biden must decide whether he can continue letting Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky continue to wage war against the Kremlin. Putin said he will not give up territory seized in Ukraine, unless there’s internationally-brokered peace talks recognizing the rights of Russian-speaking people in Donetsk and Luhansk, two provinces seeking independence from Kiev. All the talk of Russia surrendering is utter rubbish, Ukrainian propaganda.
Biden’s made some huge blunders in Ukraine, all because the White House continued to arm Ukraine over Kremlin objections. Promising victory over Ukraine, Putin means business when he says he’s committed to his special military operation in Ukraine. If Biden wants to return to normal diplomatic relations with Moscow, he’s going to need to end the proxy war against the Russian Federation. Given the war is already at loggerheads, Biden has no choice but to let the U.N. do its job and work for a mutually beneficial settlement. Zelensky can’t continue to repeat his unrealistic 10-point peace plan demanding that the Kremlin be prosecuted in the Hague before he enters ceasefire and peace talks. Zelensky has zero resources without the U.S. to fund the Kiev government and the war. Biden must tell Zelensky he needs to wrap up his military operation in the next few months.
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.
