Traveling to the G20 in New Delhi today, 60-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken stopped in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, telling reporters he had no intent to speaking with 72-year-old Russian Foreign Ministr Sergey Lavrov. Yet when in New Delhi, Blinken in fact did talk with Lavov on the sidelines of the G20 summit. Blinken reportedly told Lavrov that the U.S. would support Ukraine as long as it takes or at least until Biden loses the 2024 presidential election, assuming that he’s running. If he wins a second term, the U.S. public can be assured that he’ll continue funding a proxy war against the Kremlin using Ukrainian troops. Blinken’s talking points about backing Ukraine “as long as it takes” seems to be wearing out with a public, growing more wary of the costly Ukraine War. Today’s AP-NORC poll shows by a significant margin that American citizens are losing support for the war.
Blinken shows when given the chance to dialogue with top Russian officials he’s limited by Biden’s policy what he can say to Russian officials. Biden refuses to recognize there’s growing opposition to the Ukraine War as reflected in the AP-NORC poll, showing that 60% of Democrats support the Ukraine war but only 40% of Republicans. Today’s poll isn’t good news for Biden that insists he backs Ukraine’s 10-poinbt peace plan that demands that Russia leave every inch of Ukrainian sovereign territory. Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky demands that Russian President Vladimir Putin or other Russian officials be tried in the Hague’s International Criminal Court, including reparations f or Ukraine’s losses. But Zelensky opted for war against the Kremlin early on in the conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Zelensky a way out in March 2022.
Blinken told Lavrov that Washington would push for peace agreed to by Kiev, something unacceptable to Putin. What kind of a peace plan involves prosecuting one of the warring parties in the International Criminal Court? “End this war of aggression, engage in meaningful diplomacy that can produce a just and durable peace,” Blinken told Lavrov, repeating Zelensky’s demands.. If the AP-NORC poll mirrors changing attitudes on the Ukraine War, time is not on the White House side. Growing numbers on Capitol Hill are tired to the blank check Biden has given to Zelensky. When it comes to “just and durable peace,” two sides must agree what works for both sides, not just Kiev. Blinken has a perfect opportunity to begin building bridges with the Russian Federation, something lost when Biden trashed decades of pragmatic, cooperative relations with Moscow.
Instead of listening to the Russian side, Blinken dismissed Lavrov’s point of view on the Ukraine War, noting that Putin was open to resolving the conflict. “President Putin has demonstrated zero interest in engaging, saying there’s nothing to even talk about unless and until Ukraine accepts and until Ukraine accepts and I quote “the new territorial reality,” Blinken said. Putin offered Zelensky in March 2022 to settle the conflict if he would recognize Donetsk and Luhansk as independent territories and Crimea as sovereign Russian territory. Biden and Zelensky have been gearing up for Kiev to try to take back Crimea, something that could escalate the war far beyond the current destruction. Putin isn’t going to jeopardize his Sevastopol naval base, home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet. Zelensky didn’t plan on retaking Crimea before the Feb. 24, 2022 war started.
Once Kiev is armed with more HIMARS mobile weapons systems, tanks and medium-range missiles, Zelensky plans a major assault of Crimea. Putin won’t sit idly by letting Kiev gain the upper hand in Crimea. Most military experts, including Biden’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 65-year-old Gen. Mark Miley, say there is no military solution in Ukraine. Miley told Biden last year there is only a political solution in Ukraine. So, when Blinken has a chance to open up constructive dialogue with Moscow, he repeats old talking points. Blinken expressed frustration with Putin’s Feb. 21 decision to suspend the last remaining U.S.-Russian nuclear arms treaty. Blinken gives Putin no reason to continue any meaningful dialogue with the U.S. as long a Washington funds a proxy war against the Kremlin. Blinken insists the White House will back Kiev as long as it takes.
At the G20 meeting in New Delhi, industrialized and developing nations couldn’t agree on consensus over the Ukraine War. Biden and Blinken insisted that there’s global consensus on opposing Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. Yet at the G20 there’s no consensus from the world’s biggest economies could not decide on a joint statement, refuting Biden’s statement of consensus. Whether Biden knows it or not, he’s made his Ukraine war policy the biggest issue of the 2024 presidential campaign. Former President Donald Trump, 76, the first to declare his 2024 candidacy, opposes the Ukraine War. Biden has given the most vague justification for the Ukraine War. Biden says if Putin wins in Ukraine, the world will pay a bigger price in the future. What kind feeble excuse does Biden give when he says the Ukraine War protects democracy on the European Continent?
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnoineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
