Biden trumps Trump on Ukraine …and Trump needs to man up
As his presidency comes to a close, President Biden has made at least one significant decision regarding Ukraine – and it was a good one, even if late, as usual.
Biden has lifted the limitation on the use of American long range weapons. Up to this point, the Ukrainians could not use them to attack Putin’s military installations inside Mother Russia. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy can now use any of the weapons in his arsenal to attack wherever necessary at any time. Theoretically, he could attack the Kremlin.
This has been long overdue thanks to Biden’s too little/too late policies. Biden has gravely erred in not doing more to stop Putin from invading in the first place. By assuring the Madman of Moscow that America would not put boots on the ground … would not provide jet fighters … and would not invoke a no-fly zone … Biden laid out a welcome mat across Ukraine for Putin.
Biden threatened Putin with maximum sanctions if he invaded. Putin did and Biden responded with ineffective minimal sanctions – piddling out more as the war went on.
Biden’s too little/too late policy is largely the reason the war has been dragging on. He was motivated more by a fear of escalation than a plan for victory. Biden got cowed by Putin’s rattling the nuclear saber.
Referring to Biden’s approach to the Ukrainian war as too little/too late is not a term of my invention. It is the opinion of a number of retired generals, including Wesley Clark, former Supreme Commander of NATO. He used it in a recent CNN interview. Clark pointed out that Biden was against sending F16 fighter jets until he wasn’t … against sending the Abrams tanks until he wasn’t … against long range weapons until he wasn’t … and now against attacking inside Russia until he wasn’t. The same terms were used by former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton – and for the same reasons.
All of Biden’s eventual decisions to escalate prove one thing – that the nuclear threat was a bluff. I have occasionally written that even if we did not put boots on the ground, the United States should have been all in terms of support for Ukraine. In fact, I believe that a creditable threat of getting his ass kicked by NATO, the European Union and America’s Asian allies would have prevented Putin from invading Ukraine – and even gotten him booted completely out of Ukraine. Unfortunately, America was being led by Neville Chamberlain when we needed a Ronald Reagan.
The more than two-year standoff that Biden created has allowed Putin to reassemble … increasing his missile and drone attacks on Ukraine … inch forward in eastern Ukraine … and recruit North Korean fighters. General Clark said that Biden bungled the initial attack – and that he was holding back for a diplomatic solution rather than seeking a military victory.
In response to Biden’s policy shift, the Kremlin is again rattling the nuclear saber and suggesting that any Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia could bring NATO into direct confrontation with Russia. Right! That is the last thing Putin needs.
But Biden will not be in charge much longer. It is President Trump who will be managing the Ukraine War from the American perspective – that that has Zelenskyy (and me) a bit concerned. If Biden’s policy was to allow the war to drift slowly into a diplomatic solution, Trump seems determined to force the diplomatic solution immediately. Neither is good for Ukraine.
The only diplomatic solutions that seem currently possible all require Ukrainian forces to withdraw from the regions of Russia that they currently control … cede the Crimea and eastern Ukraine to Putin … create a path for Ukraine to enter NATO in three to five years (or no such guarantee). As if that will ever happen. It is more likely Putin will have taken over all of Ukraine in that time,
The only way Trump could force such an agreement is by cutting off military aid. Unless NATO increased military aid, Ukraine could lose the war.
As a Gold Star family, I well understand the cost of war in lives and treasure. One does not end wars by allowing megalomaniacal aggressors to advance. Any gain merely whets their appetite for the next invasion and occupation. Putin has already taken over Georgia and Chechia. He is the new Hitler. And we are acting more like Chamberlain.
I do not believe that Trump will completely acquiesce to Putin – or that Congress will cut off aid to Ukraine — it is the uncertainty that worries me.
So, there ‘tis.
I noted in another post that if I were king of the forest……. I would pardon all the non-violent 1/6 protestors and leave the violent ones, the seditious conspirators, for Trump. That should suck some oxygen from his hot air bag. WTF, why not. Biden can afford to be as generous to them as he was to Hunter.
The author posted this story on December 11th, marking Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles claiming the delay proves us to be Chamberlains. Chamberlain did not send material for war as Biden has. Chamberlain did not create a 50-country coalition to stand up to the dictator as Biden has. Chamberlain sat on his ass and talked like the author is.
Talk about being Chamberlain and a day late, a dollar short, on December 7th, four days before the author posted this piece, Biden said:
“Today, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced a significant new security assistance package to ensure Ukraine has the tools it needs to prevail in its fight against Russian aggression. This security assistance package commits an additional $988 million in support through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) that will provide Ukraine with munitions for rocket systems and Unmanned Aerial Systems. This package also includes support for maintenance and repair programs to help Ukraine reconstitute its forces and build and sustain combat power.
The capabilities in this announcement include:
• Ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);
• Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS); and
• Equipment, components, and spare parts to maintain, repair, and overhaul artillery systems, tanks, and armored vehicles.
This is the Biden Administration’s twenty-second USAI package and part of the surge of aid for Ukraine. The United States will continue to work together with some 50 Allies and partners through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group and its associated capability coalitions to provide the support Ukraine needs to win the war.”
The author concludes: “I do not believe that Trump will completely acquiesce to Putin – or that Congress will cut off aid to Ukraine — it is the uncertainty that worries me.” He hasn’t a clue, just a belief that what Trump has said is not what Trump really means.
I winder if anyone in Washington thought about the fact that the wind blows from west to east most of the time, so that if Putin nuked Ukraine, Russia would get the fallout.
Andrew, in the area of things we really shouldn’t be talking about, you brought up the subject of nuclear bombs and fallout.
First, the Nukies used in Japan were about 15 kt. Chances are Putin would use a tactical nuclear bomb and not a strategic Ann. Today’s tactical bombs could be anywhere from 2 kt to 50 kt, but most are thought to be under 15 kt.
Japan was lucky in that there was not a significant amount of fallout. For fallout, you must have a mixture of material, like soil, buildings, bones, that mixes with the radiation and shoots into the atmosphere. Again, in Japan they were lucky and it wasn’t that bad. The spread was about 20 miles.
Also, the time that the radiation was a danger was incredibly short. May have been days weeks or a month or two. Therefore, Putin could easily do this, tell the people in harms way to take a vacation for a few months, and all will be well.
Unfortunately, while Putin has thousands of these tactical bombs, the US has around 300, most of which are aimed at Russia. However, in a full scale nuclear war, it would not take very long before the strategic antiballistic missiles flew. And fly they will, from the US, Russia, North Korea, India, Pakistan, Great Britain, France, Israel, and God knows who else has the bomb. But once we pull the trigger, they all will fly.
That’s the bigger problem, a world at war. I don’t like anyone knows the outcome of that, to use the concept: cracked the sky.
One less thing, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Ukraine west of Russia? Just saying.