Former Russian ambassador to Russia in the Obama administration [2012-2014] 59-year-old Michael McFaul said 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to put tactical nukes in Belarus was slap to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi met Putin in Moscow March 20 for a love-fest , where both leader pledged their undying loyalty, especially against the imperialist United States. McCaul thinks Xi would react harshly to Putin’s decision, if it every happens, to deplay tactical nukes to Belarus. McCaul, a partisan Democrat now a professor of political science at Stanford University, reserves his criticism for Republicans, rubber stamping 80-year-old President Joe Biden’s abysmal foreign policy, managing in over two years to alienate Russia and China to the point that diplomatic relations barely exist. McFaul gives the White House talking points, trying to divide Russia and China.
McFaul knows that no president in U.S. history has done more damage to U.S.-Russian and U.S. Chinese relations than Biden. Biden snubbed Xi at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, boycotting the event due to China’s alleged human rights violations. Xi doesn’t care at all that Putin places tactical nukes in Belarus. He cares about Biden’s accusations that Beijing commits genocide in Western China against Muslim Uyghurs or cracks down on pro-democracy acivists in Hong Kong. “Not very respectful to his good friend Xi,” McCaul tweted, citing Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko making a state visit to Beijing. McCaul, a Biden apologist, wants to stir the pot in relations between Russia and China, when Biden pushed Russia and China into a close political and military alliance. Whether McCaul admits it or not, Biden has done all the damage to U.S.-Chinese relations.
Biden told the world Sept. 23, 2022 that the U.S. would defend Taiwan with U.S. troops if Beijing attempts to take over the island nation. Xi said Biden violated the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act signed into law by former President Jimmy Carter, nullifying the 1954 Sino-American Mutual Defense treaty and recognizing only one China, the one in Beijing. McCaul says nothing about that only that Xi would be irked by Putin putting tactical nukes in Belarus. Xi feels the exact same way about the U.S. as Putin that Biden meddles in China’s internal affairs. Xi doesn’t like Biden threatening to use U.S. troops against China when he’s not using them in Ukraine. If Biden really believes that Putin was a menace to Europe, why would he not commit U.S. troops to oust Russia from Ukraine? If Biden’s willing to use U.S. troops to defend Taiwan, why isn’t he using them to defend Ukraine?
Partisan hacks like McCaul don’t provide factual analysis to U.S. foreign policy, where Biden has wrecked U.S.-Russi and U.S.-Chinese relations. What’s more egregious to Putin putting nukes in Belarus or Biden saying he’d defend Taiwan, explicitly violating the Taiwan Relations Act? “Both Putin and Lukashenko humiliated Xi. Remember, Luka was just treated to a fancy state visit to China. Xi just came to Moscow. Can’t imagine this decision is going down well in Beijing,” McCaul tweeted. China has much bigger fish to fry that worrying about what Putin does in Belarus. Xi wants to check American power anywhere he can, especially in the Pacific Rim where Biden has routinely ignored China’s warnings on Taiwan or sending U.S. warships through the South China Sea where China claims sovereignty.
When it comes to the ever dangerous Ukraine War, McFaul has nothing to say, diverting attention to the alleged conflict between Russia and China. McCaul says nothing about Xi not condemning Putin for invading Ukraine, instead hinting that he might help Putin with war materiel. Biden blew a great opportunity to put China on the U.S. side of the Ukraine war. But once Biden said he’d commit U.S. troops to fight Beijing, Xi knew Biden’s real agenda. Xi wouldn’t denounce Putin on Ukraine because China sees the U.S. encroaching on its sovereignty in the Pacific Rim. Biden has said openly he wants a coalition of Pacific Rim countries to confront China’s growing clout in the region. Xi knows that Biden accused Beijing of genocide on Muslim Uyghurs in Western China at the first summit in Anchorage, Alaska March 18, 2021. Shortly after that Biden called Putin as “soulless killer.”
Biden’s White House has done more harm to U.S. foreign policy than any president since WW II. Decades of hard fought diplomacy with Russia and China have been trashed by Biden for no reason. Funding a proxy war against the Kremlin in Ukraine, Biden stated his intent to degrade the Russian military to the point it could not longer wage war. Kremlin officials from the top down know the Ukraine War is a one between the U.S. and Moscow, hiding behind Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Xi sees Biden encroaching in Eastern Europe and certainly in the Pacific Rim where the Pentagon routinely sends U.S. warships. Biden can’t face his own self-destructive instincts, fighting himself more than the Kremlin. Putin’s decision to station nukes in Belarus has Xi’s approval, knowing Putin has stood up to U.S. threats to topple the Russian government.
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.
