All of 79-year-old President Joe Biden’s threats against he Russian Federation for its Ukraine War have backfired, with China and India, more than making up for a loss of Russian oil revenue from the U.S. and European Union [EU]. Biden pushed, cajoled and threatened any Western ally to continue buying oil from the Russian Federation, hoping the economic consequences would force the 69-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the Ukraine War. But once Biden decided to fund the Ukraine government and supply unlimited lethal weapons and cash to Ukraine, Putin understood Biden’s ultimate goal. Biden decided, without consulting with allies, to fund a proxy war with Ukrainian troops to topple the Russian government. No one in the EU agreed with the policy but it was already too late, with Biden delivering more lethal weapons to Ukraine to battle the Kremlin.
India’s 71-year-old Prime Minister Narendra Modi jumped at the chance to buy cheap Russian oil at a time of escalating global oil prices. Biden shouted from every rooftop but ultimately had no clout over India and China’s appetite for oil. India bought over 60 million barrels of oil from Russia since the Feb. 24, something eclipsing its 12 billion barrels from all of 2021. Biden couldn’t convince India or China to stop a good thing, not necessarily because they like Putin or the Ukraine War but purely out of business. Sri Lanka’s Oil Minister Udaya Gammanpila said he too would probably buy more oil from Russian to meet Sri Lanka’s demands. Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said, given skyrocketing oil prices, he would be inclined to buy Russian oil to meet his country’s fossil fuel needs. India dramatically increased its Russian crude oil purchase since the Ukraine War began.
In January and March, India had about 60,000 barrels of oil delivered from Russia. In May and June, that number quadrupled. “People are realizing that India is such a refining hub, taking it at such a cheap price, refining it and sending it out as clean products because they can make such strong margins on that,” said Matt Smith, lead analyst at Kpler, tracking Russian oil flows. Smith said the Russian Urals crude now flows to India and China at unprecedented levels, completely undermining any Western sanctions on the Russian Federation. Biden foolishly thought he could impose an oil embargo on Russia, thinking would crash the Russian economy. Biden didn’t think through the obvious blunder to paying Ukraine to battle the Russian Federation, leaving Ukraine in ruins for the foreseeable future. Not only has Biden destroyed Ukraine, he has wrecked the U.S. economy.
Hyperinflation has caused the Federal Reserve Board to hike rates to the point that Wall Street has been crashing for weeks, leaving the Dow Jones Industrial, Nasdaq Composition and S&P 500 down close to 25% from their January highs. Let there be no mistake, Biden’s Ukraine War strategy has backfired, causing more damage to the U.S. and European Union [EU] economy than to Russia. All of Biden’s tough talk about wrecking the Russian economy backfired, causing real damage to the U.S. Watching India and China swoop up all of Russia’s crude oil should tell U.S. lawmakers that Biden’s war strategy must change before it plunges the U.S. economy into an intractable recession. Third quarter GDP should plunge again, confirming recession in the U.S. “We’re look to allies and partners not to increase their purchases of Russian energy,” said 59-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Biden and Blinken have been wrong about U.S. foreign policy since taking office Jan. 20, 2021. Both have done everything possible to alienate Russia and China, driving both nuclear-powered U.S. adversaries into a strategic alliance. China doesn’t back the Ukraine War but won’t compromise its relations with Russia because Biden threatens China with economic sanctions. China bought 1.6 million barrels of Russian oil a day, showing no signs of heeding Biden’s warnings. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen tried to coordinate with Western allies to set a price cap on Russian oil, something that’s done nothing to deter Moscow from selling its oil to Asian markets. Instead of turning Russia into an active U.S. enemy, Biden should be working vigorously to end the Ukraine War and get back to some measure of diplomacy. Ukraine’s Zelensky wants to keep the fight going indefinitely.
Biden’s approach to the Ukraine War has been a complete failure, supplying Ukraine lethal weapons, hoping that it would discourage Russia from continuing the fight. But once Biden made the fight personal, saying Putin should not remain as Russian president, deciding to fight a proxy war using Ukrainian troops to fight the Russian Federation, Biden has made things far worse for Ukraine. Biden and former President President Barack Obama poured billions for eight years into a proxy war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, causing 500,000 deaths, 12 million refugees and practically broke the European Union. Biden’s doing the same thing in Ukraine, giving Zelensky the exact wrong approach to the Russian Federation. Zelensky has already lost so much sovereign Ukraine territory, he’s made peace negotiations next to impossible. Biden should tell Zelensky to end the war at the earliest possible time
