Secretary of State Antony Blinken, 59, proved at a G20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia that he needs urgent lessons in diplomacy, if the U.S. is really serious about ending the Ukraine War or getting wrongfully detained prisoners like 31-year-old WNBA star Britney Griner or 52-year-old Paul Williams out of a Moscow jail. Blinken spent his weekend in Bali trying to convince Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Li that to join the anti-Putin bandwagon, something China wants to avoid. Blinken could have spent his time mending fences, trying to restore some measure of protocol between the U.S. and Russian Federation. Instead Blinken, like he’s done before, thinks slamming 69-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin win him plaudits with G20 countries. Most G20 countries agree that there are better ways for Ukraine and Russia to settle disputes than resorting to war.
Blinken, who claims he wants to help get Griner out of a Moscow jail, used in time in Bali to blast the Russian War in Ukraine. Forget about the fact that the U.S. has spent over $54 billion, announcing today that the U.S. spends another $400 million in more lethal weapons, authorizing new delivers of long-range HIMARS mobile rocket launchers, something giving Ukraine a new edge on the battlefield. So far, there’s zero evidence that the HIMARS advanced weapon systems has done anything to stop Putin’s relentless advance on Ukrainian territory. Since the war started Feb. 24, Russia controls over 35% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory, including the entire strategic Black Sea coastline. Accusing Putin of war crimes, Ukraine’s 45-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky insists that Russia targets residential centers. Zelensky can’t imagine that there’s collateral damage from war.
Zelensky continues push forward to full-scale war with Russia, refusing to go to the peace table in Istanbul to resolve the conflict. Putin has stated from the war’s outset his conditions for ending the conflict, including Kiev recognizing Donetsk and Luhansk and independent oblasts and accepting Crimea as sovereign Russian territory. Zelensky, with U.S. backing, gambled with Ukraine, deciding to take on the Russian Federation. So more the past five months, Zelensky keeps insisting that all he needs is more advance weapons systems, hoping at some point to get U.S. or NATO troops to fight his battle in Ukraine. Zelensky speaks daily to the Ukrainian people, telling them about all the progress in the war, never admitting defeat, even when it’s widely reported in the press. Zelensky doesn’t like to admit to lost territory, especially in the strategic Black Sea coastline.
Blinken’s failed diplomacy in Bali squandered a golden opportunity to start mending fences with 72-year-old Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Lavrov was all ears when he saw Blinken make the rounds with G20 ministers denouncing Russia’s Ukraine War. Blinken never admits that U.S. has been funding the bankrupt Ukraine government, paying all government salaries, and financing most of the war effort. “It fired precisely at the residential sector—absolutely deliberately, purposefully, at ordinary houses and civilian objects,” Zelensky said in a statement, giving Blinken more reason to continue slamming Putin in Bali. Blinken heard an earful from Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Li who told him Beijing was growing tired of the Biden White House “China-phobia,” letting Blinken know that he wasn’t changing sides. Yet Blinken prattled on about China joining the West.
China knows that it faces stiff opposition in the Biden White House over Taiwan. Biden said May 23 that the U.S. would defend Taiwan in the event of a Beijing invasion. When 69-year-old Chinese President Xi Jinping hears that, he knows that the U.S. is no ally of communist China. China believes that the independent island nation-state of Taiwan is part of Mainland China. Biden insists that Taiwan is still a protected territory backed by the U.S. government. China has no interest in Bali of joining any Western coalition to denounce the Russian Federation because of the Ukraine War. While some G20 countries deplore Putin’s Ukraine invasion, the BRICS economic bloc, including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, take a neutral stance on the Ukraine War and continue to buy oil and natural gas from the Russian Federation. Blinken knows he won’t convince anyone to denounce Putin.
Ukraine and the U.S. have been losing the Ukraine War since it started. Zelensky and Biden only point to the Russian army detouring away from Kiev and Kharkiv to fight the battle in the industrial Donbas region of Southeastern Ukraine. Blinken leaves the Bali G20 summit without convincing anyone to denounce Putin. If WNBA start Britney Griner has a chance of getting out of a Russian prison, Blinken made her chances much worse. Putin said July 8 that the Russian Federation has not even gotten started in Ukraine, warning Kiev and the U.S. that things could get much worse. Instead of working toward common ground with Moscow, Blinken made a bad situation worse, something he’s done his becoming Secretary of State. Unless there’s a real change of heart from the White House over the Ukraine War, Griner could sit in a Russia jail for a long time .
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.
