Posted on 01/06/2022 5:08:27 AM PST by tlozo
The White House is writing off an ally to appease an enemy. The situation in Ukraine has become very grave.
On December 17, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin sent U.S. president Joe Biden an ultimatum, effectively demanding that NATO abandon Eastern Europe or face military action. Biden agreed to a phone conversation with Putin to talk it over, giving the Kremlin what it sought: The affected countries were now on the table instead of at the table. When the two then talked on December 30, according to the White House, Biden rejected the ultimatum and informed Putin that if he proceeded to invade Ukraine, he would face strong economic sanctions from the U.S. and its European partners. Putin then countered by saying that such sanctions would result in a “complete rupture in relations” between Russia and the U.S.
The Russian ultimatum was outrageous, so much so that it is clear that it was designed to be rejected, giving Russia a pretext for war. Furthermore, in promising to cut off relations in response to any new Western sanctions, Putin was threatening retaliation for Western actions that would only occur in the event of an invasion.
In other words: The invasion is on. Putin is planning to take Ukraine, or the bulk of it, because he thinks he can.
Putin looks at Biden and his European counterparts and sees weakness. And why wouldn’t he? In July 2014, when Russia-backed fighters shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine, killing all 298 passengers and crew aboard, the Obama–Biden administration refused to hold them responsible for it; instead, the White House called for a prolonged “investigation” to defuse the issue. A month later, when Ukrainian forces were advancing into Donetsk to retake the city from Russian-backed separatists, Russia massed armored forces on the Ukrainians’ flanks. These tank concentrations could not have escaped observation by U.S. reconnaissance satellites. But rather than “provoke” Russia by warning the Ukrainians of the impending envelopment, the Obama–Biden administration shamefully kept quiet, allowing the Ukrainian forces to be surprised, surrounded, and defeated. The economic sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its seizure of Ukrainian territory and its killing of over 14,000 Ukrainian citizens were a joke, limited to reducing a few secondary Kremlin figures’ opportunities to shop and enjoy the sites in Western countries. Meanwhile, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project was allowed to proceed apace.
More than five years later, Russia is mobilizing troops on the Ukrainian border, and the Biden administration seems to be taking the Russian seizure of Ukraine as a fait accompli. Rather than warn Putin that he will be held responsible for any harm that might come to the 15,000 American citizens currently in Ukraine, the administration has announced that it is developing plans for their evacuation. Biden has threatened to impose more serious sanctions in the event of an invasion, but Putin is betting that any sanctions with real teeth will be temporary in nature, and well worth the pain if he can take Ukraine and discredit the Western alliance in the bargain...
“We also have strategic interests in a Europe that is safe from Russian aggression.”
No.
US interests are best served by withdrawing from NATO.
Yes....they can, but they ask to join an antiquated, mischartered organization whose support by the US should no longer be given.
Concurring bump...let NATO become the European Army that the French and Germans long for but don't want to fund.
Most likely Ukrainian-Americans, as they probably call themselves.
Don’t. Care.
Not my circus.
Not my monkeys.
Mac_truck
7th January 2022
https://freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/4027492/posts?page=104#104
“Cool story bro...but some trucks crossing the UKR/RUS border at night and some Russian made anti-jamming hardware does not add up to an invasion.”
Wow, you have bad judgement
mac - wrong again
he Minsk Protocol, was drafted in 2014 by the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, consisting of Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). After extensive talks in Minsk, Belarus, the agreement was signed on 5 September 2014 by representatives of the Trilateral Contact Group and, without recognition of their status, by the then-leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR).
Minsk 1
The following representatives signed the document:
Swiss diplomat and OSCE representative Heidi Tagliavini
Former president of Ukraine (July 1994 to January 2005) and Ukrainian representative Leonid Kuchma
Russian Ambassador to Ukraine and Russian representative Mikhail Zurabov
Rebel heads Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky
Minsk 2
The document was signed by:
Separatist’s leaders Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky
Swiss diplomat and OSCE representative Heidi Tagliavini
Former president of Ukraine and Ukrainian representative Leonid Kuchma
Russian Ambassador to Ukraine and Russian representative Mikhail Zurabov
Russia signed both and violated both
You pinged me to a thread I’m not even on, for what purpose?
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