If Joe had been strong prior to Russia invading Ukraine, if he hadn’t emboldened Russia, if he had not FUBAR’d the Afghanistan withdrawl, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Regardless, it’s where we are, and, Ukraine is not worth WWIII. Too many on both the right and left seem to want to push us into war. The warmongers won’t give up
Biden’s risk-averse approach to Russia could create greater threat, experts say
President Joe Biden’s high-stakes summit with other NATO leaders on Thursday will be one of the most scrutinized meetings on the world stage in decades, and could have enormous implications for both the war in Ukraine and the global balance of power.
Despite calls from Ukraine to do more to help stave off Russia’s ruthless invasion, Biden has taken a cautious approach — wary of escalating the conflict by drawing in U.S. forces as part of a more direct NATO response. But after nearly a month of fighting, some foreign policy and national security experts ABC News spoke to say it may be time for the alliance to take on a more direct role.
Since before the fighting broke out, Biden has insisted that American troops would not fight Russian forces inside Ukraine, warning that going head-to-head would lead to “a third world war.”
But Barry Pavel, a former National Security Council senior official during the Bush and Obama administration and the senior vice president and director of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council, says that’s far from inevitable.
“There have been other cases where U.S. and Russian forces have unfortunately come into friction and World War III didn’t start,” Pavel said, characterizing the strategy as simplistic. “There are hundreds of options that could be done between what NATO is doing now and risking World War III.”
Hundreds? None are named.
The greater threat, warns Pavel, might be in leaving Putin unchecked.
“If he is emboldened by success in Ukraine, then he will be more aggressive in his efforts to nibble and to move into areas of perceived weakness in NATO members,” he said. “If he achieves his goal, you’ll have Russian forces on the borders of seven NATO members, including nuclear forces in Belarus, and so he’ll use that new posture to really heighten European insecurity to a great degree.”
So, send troops in? Create a no fly zone? Why are some people so invested in pushing towards war?
Thomas Graham, a former NSC senior director for Russia and a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, says that beyond discussing support for Ukraine, NATO leaders should use the upcoming summit to make sharpen their signaling to the Kremlin.
“NATO leaders want to make sure that they’ve done everything that they can in order to deter the Russians,” he said. “Have we augmented the forces in Eastern Europe to the appropriate levels? And have we convinced the Russians that in fact we are determined to honor the Article Five guarantee and protect every inch of NATO territory?”
This kind of stuff keeps going and going, and, personally, I’d rather Biden not get aggressive. Especially since his people are incompetent.
William Teach: If Joe had been strong prior to Russia invading Ukraine, if he hadn’t emboldened Russia, if he had not FUBAR’d the Afghanistan withdrawl, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
Concerning Afghanistan, there was no good way to leave. After twenty years of American efforts, neither the Afghan government nor the Afghan armed forces had the confidence of the people. Leaving stopped the bleeding for the U.S., and freed the capacity for other challenges. You never know. Something might happen. It was the best move strategically.
Trump had threatened to withdraw from NATO, and took actions that weakened the alliance, and caused long lasting damage to American credibility towards the mutual defense treaty under Article 5 of the NATO charter. As long as Trump continued to weaken NATO, it was to Putin’s advantage to wait. When Biden took office, though, Biden began the effort to strengthen the alliance.
The strategy leading up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine was to try and convince Putin that NATO wasn’t a direct military threat and that invasion would be damaging to Russia’s future. Biden released intelligence to allies to make clear that Putin was preparing for an invasion. Consequently, once Putin invaded, the U.S. and its allies were better prepared. Upon the invasion, they immediately began funneling arms into Ukraine and imposing severe economic sanctions on Russia. The Ukrainians have stalled the Russian advance and showed the weakness of Putin’s authoritarianism to the world. Direct confrontation with Russia could lead to a wider war, so Ukraine will have to do the fighting for now, but it’s everybody’s war. In other words, Biden is threading the needle.
Z,
Congrats, you got everything wrong. You need to grow up and quit reading communist shit.
Funny how often the KiddieZ do that.
#LetsGoBrandon
#FuckJoeBiden
Bwaha! Lolgf
Funny how davebot and ShitLips never have anything of substance to add.
Fluffer69Bros!!
david7134: Congrats, you got everything wrong.
Handwaving doesn’t make it go away. You could start with Afghanistan. The government and armed forces were hopelessly corrupt, and never had support of the people. The Afghan armed forces collapsed within weeks, and the president fled the country. There never was an Afghan armed forces or government other than as a creation of the United States. As usual, the Americans convinced themselves of something that everyone else already knew was wrong, and were insulated from the problem by their great power and magical thinking.
Compare to Ukraine, where the people have fought against all odds, and the president has stayed in country to lead the resistance.
So!
And I am not hand waving, I am sitting in my chair. I believe you are an ad homo and have your filters blocked.
By the way, the guy called Elwood is a perv and likely desires you, be careful.
Brandon is threading the needle.
Thank God!
#LetsGoBrandon
#FuckJoeBiden
Bwaha! Lolgf
Z actually believes that shit, david7134. And there’s no point arguing since he’ll just move the goal posts one inch and start all over again. Like most leftists who have never been in war, never put on a uniform of any sort and who never risked anything for anyone Z thinks he knows best. He is willing to dare a cornered rat you push that nuclear button cause he just knows he’ll be one of the survivors.
FJB LOLOLOL
Brandon,
Ya, I know and as I have said he is a low information grade school kid. But I am in a mood to pick wings off flys so I torment the kid as he puts it out there.
Curiously, that “low information grade school kid” keeps boxing the chops of the davebot and Brand0.
L.G.Brandon!, L.G.Brandon!: He is willing to dare a cornered rat you push that nuclear button cause he just knows he’ll be one of the survivors.
That is contrary to our position which was that “Direct confrontation with Russia could lead to a wider war, so Ukraine will have to do the fighting for now, but it’s everybody’s war. In other words, Biden is threading the needle.”
So now Biden is sewing and not acting like president?? Typical for nursing home bait.
William Teach has finally upgraded the davebot to the new, “improved” trollbot3000!
The trollbot3000 has no more to say than the antecedent davebot but says it with attitude!!
Z,
You do realize that Biden will get the draft going again and they will get you