Dining on crab dumplings, lingonberries and pinenuts, 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin and 39-year-old North Korean President Kim Jong-un met at the Vostochny Cosmodrome where Soyuz-2 routine launches to the International Space Station [ISS]. Kim traveled by his slow-moving armored train from Pyongyang to the Russian Pacific port city of Vladisvostok to discuss a variety of bilateral issues but almost certainly North Korea’s military assistance to Putin in his Ukraine War. Kim would like nothing more than to stick it to the United States, responsible for years of punitive economic sanctions largely over his nuclear arms program, something no longer subject to much nonproliferation. With 80-year-old President Joe Biden fighting a bloody proxy war against the Kremlin, there’s not much left to U.S.-Russian relations, let along the future of arms control.
Biden decided unilaterally to end decades of diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation, working toward a détente that would make the world safer from nuclear weapons. After the U.S. dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan to end WW II in 1945, the U.S. and Russia pledged to work diligently to control the spread of nuclear weapons. Every U.S. president since Harry Trump worked on arms control with the Kremlin to reduce the chances of inadvertent nuclear war. Biden deviated from that directive, funding a reckless proxy war against the Kremlin with the intent to defending Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Biden’s decision to defend Ukraine tossed U.S.-Russian relations under the bus, leaving U.S. foreign policy in chaos. No longer can the U.S. count on Russia for arms control or a host of other cooperative ventures to deal with hot spots around the globe.
U..S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, 60 and 45-year-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan warned Kim Jong-un to not supply Russia any armaments to fight the Ukraine War. Blinken threatened North Korea with more sanctions if it dared to make arms sales to the Russian Federation. Supplying arms from the Democrat Peoples Republic of Koreas [DPRK] to the Russian Federation, prompting warnings from the U.S. State Department. U.S. and NATO routinely supply arms to Ukraine but Putin’s allies are not allowed to do the same. Without U.S. and NATO arms, Ukraine would be in a deeper hole trying to battle the Kremlin. Russia and North Korea don’t threaten the West over arms shipments promised to Ukraine. Putin said he was “very glad to see” Kim, knowing the stressed nature of U.S.-Russian relation. It’s only natural for Communist allies North Korea and Russia to do business.
Russia and North Korea have a long history dating back to the Korean War, where the U.S. battled Russia, China and North Korea to loggerheads 1950-1953, end8hg in as shaky armistice July 27, 1953. Russia and Communist China supplies much of the firepower necessary to spoiling the U.S. attempt to topple Communist North Korea. So, when Putin and Kim meet today at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, it’s part of a long alliance against Western imperialism. Lecturing Kim about what to do with North Korean arms, Blinken and Sullivan do nothing to discourage a military agreement to provide artillery shells to fight the Ukraine War. As long as the Ukraine War rages on, why does Blinken and Sullivan think they can lecture Putin on where he can get more arms and ammunition? Biden has no problems supplying Ukraine with whatever cash-and-weapons he sees fit.
Whatever Putin and Kim decide, it’s certainly not up to the U.N. or any member state to dictate what Pyongyang does for its strategic ally. “No U.N. member state should violate the Security Council sanctions against North Korea by engaging in illegal trade of arms an must certainly not engage in military cooperation with North Korea that undermines the peace and stability of the international community,” said Lim Soo-suk, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman. Pyongyang rejected Soo-yuk’s warning, putting the onus back on the U.S. for supplying unlimited cash-and-arms to Ukraine. North Korea stockpiles 10s-of-millions rounds of artillery shells, something Putin said would help his war effort. Vice President Kamala Harris said Putin was “desperate” begging North Korean for artillery shells. What’s good for the goose must be good or the gander when it comes to war.
Biden has left U.S. foreign policy in shambles, endangering national security, driving Russia and North Korea into an economic, military and strategic alliance. Biden has done more harm to U.S. national security breaking diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation. What Biden supposed to do with arms control when he’s fighting a proxy war against the Kremlin? Opting to defend Ukraine over the longstanding diplomatic relations wit the Kremlin, Biden has trashed generations of arms control and other cooperative ventures with the Kremlin. Whatever Ukraine’s problems with the Kremlin, it’s not in the interest of U.S. national security to be at war with the Kremlin. Biden violated his duty as commander-in-chief to safeguard U.S. national security, going to war with the Kremlin. Whatever Putin gets from North Korea, it’s perfectly within his U.N. sovereign rights.
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.
