Embracing 80-year-old President Joe Biden’s policy on Ukraine, 64-year-old former Vice President Miike Pence ripped his former boss, 77-year-old former President Donald Trump, for saying he would end the Ukraine War in 24 hours. Pence said that would give in to 70-year-old President Vladimir Putin, the exact policy adopted by Biden. Pence has zero degrees of separation with Biden on his Ukraine policy, swallowing the White House talking points that without battling Putin, the Russian leader with march the Russian army into NATO territory, starting WW III. Pence and Biden have no proof or any reason to believe Putin has his eyes of former Soviet satellites Latvia, Lithusania and Estonia, let alone Poland. Yet Pence tries hard to distinguish himself from Trump, and, in so doing, adopts the failed Biden policy that has practically destroyed Ukraine.
Pence is polling under 5% in recent 2024 GOP polls, showing that his message does not resonate with voters, while Trump polls as 57%. “I think it ends by giving the Ukrainians what they need to win,” Pence said, continuing the Biden policy of supplying cash-and-arms to Ukraine to battle the Kremlin indefinitely. What kind of policy is that? Biden has no real plan in Ukraine other than funding the bankrupt Ukrainian government. Ukraine’s 45-year-old President Volodomyr Zelensky wants more cash and lethal weapons from the U.S. and NATO, claiming he’ll oust Russian forces by the end of 2023. Any look at Ukraine’s counteroffensive or battlefield shows that Kiev makes incremental progress, if any, now looking like Zelensky’s battle plan would take years, if ever to oust Russian troops. “I mean there’s some talk, my former running mate likes to talk about solving it in a day . . .” Pence said.
Pence has no plan for Ukraine other than following Biden and Zelensky’s failed policy of battling the Kremlin indefinitely. “The only way you’d solve this war in a day is if you gave Vladimir Putin what he wanted,” Pence said, not realizing that Trump, who was more than his running mate, had clout with Putin. Referring to Trump as his former funning mate could not be more bizarre since Pence served as Vice President for four years. Pence, like Biden, repeats the same flawed talking points as Zelensky and Biden, that if the U.S. does not fund the Ukraine government and proxy war, Putin would move his troops into Eastern Europe. Pence has no evidence for his assertions, only repeating Biden and Zelensky’s talking points. “And those will be countries where we’d have to send our armed forces to go and fight under our NATO treaty,” Pence said, missing Trump’s point about ending the conflict.
Pence has no strategic plan in Ukraine other than following the Biden policy of giving Kiev and blank check. “And so, I think it’s in the interest of our country to give them what they need to stop them there, repel them there . . . “ Pence said, rejecting the idea of ceasefire and peace talks. Giving Zelensky more cash-and-weapons has not produced the results Biden hoped for. No matter what the weapons, Russia has managed to dig into Ukraine territory with no chance of leaving anytime soon. Biden once said his economic sanctions would prevent Putin from moving the Russian army into Ukraine. How did that work out? Putin defied Biden’s sanctions, making more cash on oil sales to China and India that he every made in Europe. Biden’s failed diplomacy led to Putin’s Feb. 24, 2022 invasion because Biden refused to discuss new security arrangements for Ukraine with Putin.
Pence adopts the Biden policy because he has not real policy of his own. Running against Trump for the 2024 nomination, Pence won’t admit that Trump had a far better relationship with Russia and China than Biden, in facr, Biden has wrecked U.S.-Russian and U.S.-Chinese relations for the foreseeable future. “And so, I think it’s in the interest of our country to given them what they need to stop them there. And make no mistake about it . . . [It’s] the most effect way to send a message to China that America and the West will not tolerate military aggression by Russia or by China to redraw international lines of force,” Pence said. Pence essentially say he’s lead a coalition to fight Russia and China into the indefinite future. Pence has no consensus in Asian countries to join the next war against China. Pence has no understanding of how to resolve disputes diplomatically, other than threatening war.
Referring the Trump as his running mate, has Pence forgotten he service as Vice President for four years? Pence believes in gunboat diplomacy and war to resolve disputes with Russia and China. Apparently, Pence learned nothing from Trump that the U.S. must get along and make deals with adversaries, not threaten or go to war. No Asian nation wants to join Biden or Pence’s coalition to go to war with Communist China, or, for that matter, to condemn Putin for his war with Ukraine. Putin wants the U.S. and NATO to stop supplying endless weapons to Ukraine. Zelensky says he won’t yield one inch of Ukraine’s sovereign territory to Putin. But at whose expense? Zelensky thinks he has a blank check for the U.S. Treasury under Biden, and apparently Pence, to fight Russia into the indefinite future. Zelensky can’t oust the Russian Federation now or in the future.
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.
