Russia announced today new naval exercises in several parts of the world, sending a loud message to 79-year-old President Joe Biden and 63-year-old European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that Moscow won’t be intimidated by the West’s constant threats of economic sanctions over Ukraine. Western governments and the press accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of preparing to invade Ukraine, without proof, without facts without evidence. Western officials and press have only commented about the prodigious amounts, up to 100,000 troops, inside Russia near the Ukraine border. All the hubbub caused by Biden and his Secretary of State Tony Blinken about pure conjecture over a new Russian invasion of Donbass, Eastern Ukraine, is about to come to a head tomorrow in Geneva when Blinken meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
At the Geneva meeting, Blinken better not deliver the same worn out message that the U.S. and its European partners are prepared to apply crippling economic sanctions if Russia invades Ukrainian territory. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, 43, has been spreading the disinformation and propaganda about a Russia invasion, whipping the international community into a frenzy. Zelensky met with Blinken and 45-year-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan yesterday, plotting strategy in advance of the Jan. 21 meeting between Blinken and Lavrov. Whatever reason that defies logic, the Biden White House has been antagonizing Putin since taking office a year ago, calling Putin a “soulless killer” March 16, only two days before meeting in Anchorage, Alaska for a summit with high-ranking Chinese officials, equally offending Beijing at the March 18 summit.
When it comes to Ukraine, the U.S. has lost its end game, knowing that all the accusations against the Kremlin have left U.S.-Russian relations in shambles. Putin announced joint naval exercises in the Persian Gulf with Iran and China, a sure sign that Biden has pushed Putin into new, antagonistic alliances toward the U.S. Blinken seems content antagonizing Moscow, not hitting the reset button with Russian relations. Blinken can’t explain why Ukraine is worth wrecking U.S.-Russian relations at a time when U.S. national security needs better relations with its traditional adversaries. Biden went out on a limb in a rambling press conference yesterday, opining that he thought Russia would invade Ukraine. How Biden’s statements help U.S.-Russian relations is anyone’s guess. One thing’s for sure, Biden has some kind of vendetta with Putin that’s damages U.S.-Russian relations.
Putin and Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Rybakov have denied any intention of invading Ukraine, despite constant reports to the contrary from Western officials and the press. Biden warned Putin yesterday that Moscow could be cut off from the global banking system if he invades Ukraine. But when it comes to any invasion, things are different today than they were Feb. 22, 2014 when a CIA-backed, pro-Western coup toppled the duly-elected, Russian-backed government of Vitkor Yanukovych. Once former heavyweight boxer Vitali Klitschko chased Yanukovych out of Kiev, Russia’s Sevastopol naval base was threatened, prompting Putin March 1, 2014 to invade the Crimean Peninsula. Western officials accused Putin of invading Crimea out of naked aggression, when, in fact, the CIA-backed coup forced Putin to defend Russian national security annexing Crimea.
Kremlin spokesman Maria Zakharova accused the West of provocation, calling the accusations of an imminent Russian invasion a “cover for staging large-scale provocations of their own, including those of military character.” “They may have extremely tragic consequences for the regional and global security,” Zakharova said. Zakharova worries that all the Western weapons flooding into Ukraine could be for a “carte blanche for a military operation in Donbass,” referring to the Russian-speaking separatist region that wants no part of the pro-Western Kiev government. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed concerns about certain factions in Kiev that want to perpetuate civil war in Ukraine. “It may implant false hopes in the hotheads of some representatives of the Ukrainian leadership who may decide to quietly restart a civil war in their country,” Peskov said.
Blinken looks over his head when he meets with Lavrov tomorrow in Geneva. So far, Blinken has only shown that he’s looking to accuse Putin of unfounded Western propaganda that he’s only interested in invading Ukraine. EU and NATO leaders have been swept up in Biden’s anti-Russian hysteria, where everything Russian does must be ascribed with an evil motives. More threats of crippling economic sanctions tomorrow in Geneva won’t de-fuse the tensions in Ukraine that have spiraled out of control. If Blinken would simply give Lavrov assurances that the U.S. opposes Ukraine’s NATO membership or would stop supplying Ukraine with arms and military advisers, there’s a good chance that Lavrov would go along with assurances. Giving Lavrov some reasonable assurances about Ukraine would give Putin the out he needs to de-escalate the situation in Eastern Ukraine.
