LOS ANGELES.–President Joe Biden, 81, used Russian dissident Alexi Navalny’s death in a gulag to push for his $95.5 billion appropriation bill largely for more military aid to Ukraine. Navalny was arrested after recovering from poisoning in Siberia, treated in Germany in 2020, then prosecuted for probation violations and subversion, eventually sentenced to 19 years in a Russian gulag. Navalny had a series of medical crises in prison over the last three years, with Russian authorities announcing Feb. 16 his death in the Arctic penal colony. President Biden blamed his death on 71-year-old Vladimir Putin to twist arms in Congress to get more cash to pay for Ukraine’s bankrupt government and war with the Kremlin. Announcing more feckless sanctions against Russia today, Biden does nothing to move the Ukraine conflict to the peace table after two yeas of war.
Grandstanding over Navalny’s death shows the cynical way in which the White House pushes for another $60 million in cash for 45-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s bankrupt Kiev government. Zelensky opted for war over peace when he begged two years ago for NATO membership and took copious amounts of U.S. weapons. Putin responded Feb. 24, 2022 invading Ukraine to de-militarize Ukraine. Two years into the war, Zelensky has destroyed Ukraine’s infrastructure and bankrupted his Kiev government, now wholly dependent on U.S. government largess. Biden used the occasion of Navalny’s death to push Congress to give him his latest war appropriations, keeping the destructive war going. Biden and Zelensky show no signs of wanting to move the conflict to the peace table.
Biden has been gaslighted by Zelensky insisting that the war with the Kremlin keeps Putin from invading other European countries. Biden and Zelensky have no facts that Putin seeks to expand the Russian Federation beyond its current borders. Zelensky makes more promises and outrageous statements about how Ukraine defends European democracy. Biden and Zelensky know that NATO, not Ukraine, defends European democracy. Why has Zelensky begged NATO for years for fast-track membership. He would prefer to let NATO fight Kiev’s battles with the Kremlin, knowing that he could trigger WW III, bringing in Chinese troops into the European theater. Zelensky’s main concern is paying for his salary and pension and those of Kiev’s civil servants. All the gratuitous talk about Navalny serves Zelensky’s purpose of squeezing more cash from the U.S.
Former President Donald Trump is one of the only ones calling Zelensky out on his self-serving attempt to subsidize his bankrupt government on the backs of American taxpayers. Biden talks of more sanctions on Russia as he has since the Ukraine War started Feb. 24, 2022. Biden once threatened Putin with the most devasting sanctions in world history to stop Putin from invading Ukraine. Biden’s threats backfired when Putin moved the Russian army into Ukraine to stop the U.S. from continuing to arm the Kiev government. Putin responded to U.S. and EU sanctions by selling Russian oil to India and other parts of Asia and Africa, generating more revenue for the Kremlin than before the invasion. Two years into the war, Biden hasn’t stopped Putin from thriving economically, but, more importantly, destroying Ukraine’s infrastructure and economy.
All the talk of Navalny diverts attention away from a destructive war kin Ukraine and the European Continent. No one in the EU or NATO want any part of Biden’s war with the Kremlin. U.S. European allies have reluctantly gone along with Biden’s proxy war in Ukraine with the Kremlin but would like the war to end. Trump is the only prominent figure saying he would end the Ukraine War in 24 hours. Zelensky thinks inviting Trump to Kiev would change his mind, much like he’s gaslighted other U.S. politicians. Trump sees the Ukraine War as destructive to U.S. interests, largely because the war has failed with Biden and Zelensky saying they would defeat the Russian Federation by degrading Putin military. Putin has shown he can outlast the U.S. and Ukraine. Largely because he sees the war as between the U.S. and Moscow.
Biden fears admitting failure in Ukraine would torpedo his 2024 reelection bid. If he admits defeat and moves the conflict to the peace he would be made to look weak. If Biden keeps the war going by handing Ukraine another $60 billion, he can buy himself enough time before the election. Trump is emphatic that he would end the war in 24 hours, largely pulling the plug on U.S. funding. Zelensky could keep the war going for a while with more U.S. cash but would eventually run out. But Trump could certainly try to reestablish diplomatic relations with the Kremlin, returning to the post-WW II order that’s kept Europe out of war for the last 80 years. Biden’s belligerent foreign policy is the first in U.S. history to go to war against the Russian Federation. Trump would end the war and restore normal diplomatic relations.
CALLY
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.
