Speaking to the U.N. General Assembly, 79-year-old President Joe Biden let his war hawk out, blasting 69-year-old President Vladimir Putin for starting the Ukraine War. Biden mentioned nothing about his failure before the Feb. 24 invasion to engage Putin in new security talks for Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Putin warned Biden Dec. 23, 2021, that if Biden didn’t work on new security arrangements on Ukraine, he would be forced to take “technical military measures” to counteract the threat to Russian security. Yet when Biden speaks to the U.N. it’s all about Putin’s naked aggression, not a problem with the U.S. and NATO arming Ukraine to the teeth, something against the Kremlin’s national security requirements. Instead of striking a diplomatic tone, Biden was a war-like as it gets. How’s Biden supposed to get WNBA star Britteny Griner out of a Russian jail with such belligerent rhetoric?
Biden told the General Assembly Ukraine is “a war chose by one man,” referring to Putin. Members of the U.S. General Assembly don’t know the back story with Biden and Putin, with the Russian leader spoiling Obama and Biden’s multibillion dollar, eight-year proxy war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Putin embarrassed Obama and Biden in 2015 when he went to the defense of al-Assad, wrecking Biden’s plans to topple Bashar al-Assad. Al-Assad remains in Damascus to this day, showing that Putin means business when he defends his allies. “This war is about extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state, plain and simple, and the Ukrainian people’s right to exist as a people . . That should make your blood run cold,” Biden said, in the most belligerent speech since Cuban President Fidel Castro. Ukraine’s war with Russia has been adopted as Biden’s war with Putin.
Biden talked about Putin violating the U.N. Charter but how much does it violate the U.N. Charter—and common sense—to slam another world leader and respected member of the U.N. Security Council? Where does Biden think he can rip Putin in front to the U.N. General Assembly without repercussions for Brittney Griner but, more importantly, for U.S. national security? Since Biden took office, U.S.-Russian and U.S.-Chinese relations have never been worse. Biden’s vendetta with Putin has gone over the top, no threatening a major escalation in the war. Biden can’t possibly believe his own propaganda that he’s winning the war in Ukraine. Ukraine’s 44-yearold President Volodymyr Zelensky has lost 25% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory and the entire Black Sea coast and all its strategic ports in the first seven months of the war. Biden can’t fathom that he’s losing again to Putin.
Biden couldn’t control himself in the General Assembly slamming Putin. Whether liked or disliked, Putin is a respected international figure who’s been on the world stage far longer than Biden. “Let us speak plainly: A permanent member of the United National Security Council invaded its neighbor . . Russia has shamelessly violated the core tenets of the United Nations’ charter,” Biden said. Biden won’t admit to the General Assembly or anyone else that he armed Ukraine to the teeth over the Kremlin’s objections and somehow acts shocked that Putin took action. In Biden’s mind, he had nothing to do with the Feb. 24 invasion, when, in fact, he refused to discuss with Putin the security arrangements, providing unlimited cash-and-arms to the Kiev government. Biden preaches to the Western choir but does not have China and India, the world’s two most populous nations, on his side.
Since Biden slapped crippling sanctions on Russia for the Ukraine War, India and China alone have more than made up for the lost of oil and natural gas sales to the European Union. Biden’s sanctions against Putin backfired but so have his pressure on China and India to denounce Putin. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modia both want Putin to conclude the war. But they don’t agree with Biden that Putin started the war unilaterally. Even Pope Francis, a beacon of peace around the globe, said the NATO’s build up in Ukraine and Eastern Europe probably forced Putin’s hand. No one wants the war to stop more than Pope Francis. But, unlike Biden, he’s willing to look at both sides, just as China, India and other nations who are neutral about the war. China and India see the conflict as fueling global inflation, causing recession around the globe.
No one in the U.N. General Assembly can understand why Biden has taken such an active role in battling the Kremlin over Kiev. Biden bashed Putin on the world stage but he’s not changing too many minds about the Ukraine War. U.N. General Assembly members can’t figure out, as Russia Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said today, the war in Ukraine is really about NATO’s war against Russia. “It’s Russia’s war that is worsening the food insecurity, and only Russia can end it,” Biden said, taking no responsibility to morphing the conflict into a U.S. proxy war against the Kremlin. Whether Biden admits it or not, he’s responsible for keeping the war going because Kiev is bankrupt, has no cash to pay government salaries or the war. Without the U.S. funding and supplying arms to Kiev, the war would be long over. Biden made zero effort to move the conflict to the peace table.
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.
