And while negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations are still ongoing to some degree, Vladimir Putin still has the audacity to call his actions in Ukraine... actions now deliberately targeting civilians...a “special operation.” Implemented not to occupy territory but to destroy Ukraine's military capabilities and capture dangerous “Ukrainian nationalists,” or so Putin says, yet the pictures and videos coming out of Ukraine definitely speak otherwise.
And now after a month of devastation the Ukrainians fight on no matter that Putin's military continues to shell and rocket bomb civilian areas. And while Russia has (thankfully) still failed to completely take over any of Ukraine's major cities, millions of Ukrainians have fled their homeland creating a humanitarian crisis on a scope Europe has not seen since the Second World War. And while I believe that most of these folks will return to Ukraine to help rebuild their now devastated country when this war is over, for the fact is that all wars do eventually come to an end. But as history has shown sometimes that end is not the end the aggressor hoped it would be, for in the case of Putin's war against Ukraine there is a chance that Putin's military will be the ones stumbling home with their collective tail between their legs.
“Every day we defend, we get closer to the peace we need so much ... and you can’t stop for a minute. Because every minute is about our destiny, it is about our future. About whether we live.” - Ukraine's President Zelensky's words before the start of the NATO and EU meetings...words that sum up the crux of the situation.
But all this is really par for the
course for the fact is that all Joe Biden has done over these past
few months in the lead-up to Putin's invasion of Ukraine is to
re-instate Obama era polices, especially those in relation to
sanctions, and spew the rhetoric told to him by Obama's former
foreign policy so-called “experts”...“experts” who now
hold places in the Biden administration or should I say Obama's
finally gotten third term in office. And while Biden himself might
have recently raised Putin's ire with his words that Putin is a “war
criminal” guilty of “war crimes,” they are but mere
empty words spoken for Joe Biden is doing nothing of real substance to help
Zelensky and his forces "win this war," something a “no-fly zone”
might help to accomplish. After all, Biden dare not cross Putin's
“red line” drawn
for fear that Putin will start divulging what he knows about his and
Hunter's (and maybe even Obama's) shady, albeit profitable Ukrainian
misdoings.
Ignoring the many reporters questions regarding a much needed clarification of those words, Joe Biden instead chose to announce that he's adding even more sanctions against both Russia and Russian oligarchs; increasing humanitarian and limited military aid to Ukraine; and is allowing 100,000 thousand Ukrainian refugees to come to the U.S. Sounds good on the surface yet it remains a limited in scope response to Zelensky's much needed wants, thus leaving the highlight of said presser to be when Biden once again put his foot in his mouth.
Really Joe...really...there's no shock here, but why then over these past few months did your talking heads spew the rhetoric that sanctions will work as a major touch point in helping to prevent Putin from if not going into Ukraine at least rendering it a “minor incursion” if he decides to do so. A “minor incursion”...the very two words giving Putin the go-ahead to do just that, and you did so for all to hear but a few short months ago in yet another nationally televised address. I'd say the answer as to why is pretty damn obvious, and it all boils down to the word “Burisma.”
.
And then just this past Saturday before heading back to the U.S., Joe Biden in a private meeting with the Polish president and then in a televised speech for the whole world to hear said words that will become fodder for the history books. First, Biden had the audacity to say to Polish President Andrzej Duda that the United States understands Poland's decision to take in more than two million Ukrainian refugees due to Russia's invasion of their homeland, adding because "thousands of people a day, literally not figuratively, are crossing the U.S. southern border.” Really Joe...you are now equated people who are literally running for their very lives with ILLEGALS with their hands out being given red carpet treatment by Democrats in your party's quest to garner more votes. If that's not the epitome of shamefulness than I don't know what is.
But to make matters worse, during his what was to be solely a scripted speech before he returned to Washington, Joe Biden went off script and uttered nine little words that not only reignited another Cold War between the U.S. and Russia, but put the Ukrainian people and Ukraine itself in a dangerous position of becoming the touch point that does ignite World War III. In saying at the end of his speech, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Joe Biden not only negated our long standing policy regarding both nation building and that regime change in Russia is not the policy of the United States, but actually called for the elimination of Russia's leader.
And while Vladimir Putin now seems to
relish in channeling his inner Hitler, and while he truly, I believe,
should be removed as Russia's leader...preferably by an uprising of
the Russian people themselves...never in our country's history has a
sitting U.S. president called for another country's president...a
president of a country we technically are not at war with...to be
removed from office. That is akin to putting a bullseye on Putin's
back, and gives Putin both discourse and propaganda to use against the U.S. and Ukraine.
Copyright © 2022 / Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All rights reserved.
Joe Biden vs. Russian
President Vladimir Putin, a man who while having all the outward
trappings of a communist is actually a “statist”...a
“nationalist”...a man not so unlike President Donald Trump
who put America first above all else. Remember, Putin is not trying
to rebuild the old Soviet Union, he knows better than to attempt
that, but is a man trying to resurrect the grandeur and importance
that was once “Mother Russia”... a
“statist's” goal if ever
there was one. And he's doing so at the expense of a weak and
feeble-minded U.S. president by using the threat that if his now
called for demands cannot be resolved diplomatically that he will
resort to what would be a sustained and bloody military action. Read entire article here.
Joe Biden vs. Russian President Vladimir Putin, a man who while having all the outward trappings of a communist is actually a “statist”...a “nationalist”...a man not so unlike President Donald Trump who put America first above all else. Remember, Putin is not trying to rebuild the old Soviet Union, he knows better than to attempt that, but is a man trying to resurrect the grandeur and importance that was once “Mother Russia”... a “statist's” goal if ever there was one. And he's doing so at the expense of a weak and feeble-minded U.S. president by using the threat that if his now called for demands cannot be resolved diplomatically that he will resort to what would be a sustained and bloody military action.
And honestly, Putin does have some credence here for if Ukraine were to become part of NATO two opposing forces would then be sitting right on each others doorstep...we wouldn't like it if we were faced with such a scenario so logic alone dictates that Russia...that Putin...wouldn't like it either.
And know that Vladimir Putin, while a U.S. adversary, is a smart man as well as being an expert tactician and realist, and he knows well that his actually taking over Ukraine would mean sending even more troops to the border. And he also knows that NATO's members have made it clear that while they are sending weapons to Ukraine and will continue to do so, that they will not be party to actual fighting in Ukraine. Also, Putin knows well that we have but four brigades in Europe and that Europe herself, including Great Britain, has but two or three at the most, which is not nearly enough to defeat the Russian army if it came to an all out ground war...a war Putin himself does not want for the blood being shed if such a war were to take place would be both catastrophic in nature to both sides and accomplish nothing in the end.
In fact, albeit very briefly, Ukrainian volunteers fought rebels in the Moscow-aligned Donbass region, a region that rose up against the central government in Kyiv citing in part its “violation” of their right to speak Russian. And this fighting came to a head in 2014, when after months of what turned into deadly protests between Russian and Ukranian speakers led to the toppling of Ukraine’s pro-Russian government. And it was this event that led to the Minsk Protocol...an agreement which sought to end the war in the Dunbass region via an immediate cease fire and decentralization of power...which in turn, if it had been successful, would hopefully have led to Russia's de-annexation of Crimea. Remember, Russian control over Crimea, wanted primarily but not solely for its strategic value, was also established in 2014, with Crimea being administered as part of the Russian Federation, that is except for the northern areas of the Arabat Spit and the Syvash which are still controlled by Ukraine.
So by now it should be obvious that Ukraine, to Putin, is the prize that would help restore Russia's former glory...while to Biden, Ukraine is where yet another weakness in his administration's foreign policy objectives is easily seen.
Biden, a spineless coward, has now promised severe sanctions against Russia should Putin move militarily against Ukraine, but as is always the case with Biden it is nothing but mindless blather. Putin is willing to listen not because he fears such sanctions but because he’s keenly interested in Biden’s plan so that he can line up his own counter-measures. Remember during the 2020 campaign when Biden said in a debate that he has stood up to Putin in the past? One can only assume that he was speaking about the sanctions put on Russia when Biden was the Vice President in 2014.
Those sanctions were, at best, laughable. The Obama/Biden administration sanctioned several “low hanging fruit” entities such as smaller Russian banks, low-level military officials and a handful of non-essential diplomats. It was a joke and Putin didn’t for a moment consider getting out of Crimea either because of the threat of sanctions or the implementation of sanctions. This time around Biden is threatening major sanctions which could include Russia’s financial system and sectors deemed critical to the Kremlin. Biden is threatening “severe consequences” should Putin launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Note that the “severe consequences” come if Putin launches a “full scale” invasion against Ukraine, but Biden has already given a wink and a nod to a “minor incursion.”
That leaves oil, and that too is nothing but rhetoric when one examines the truth of the matter.
Russia has a proven 80 billion barrel reserve of oil on hand. Russia is a major oil and gas producer. In fact, they have the largest reserves of natural gas on earth and they’re the largest exporter of it. Russia also has the sixth largest oil reserves, and is one of the largest producers of oil. Most people don’t know it but last year Russia’s oil output was up 2.4 percent to 10.52 million barrels per day. This year, Russia expects to produce 10.84-11.05 million barrels per day. But Biden is threatening to take away Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline should a full-scale invasion be launched against Ukraine. Should that make Putin think twice?
Threats from Biden regarding restricting the financing of new gas exploration and production in the country as well as extending existing bans on the transfer of technology in the energy sector would be counter productive to the U.S. and our European allies, and Putin knows it. Russia’s big oil production company, Rosneft Oil Co., is roughly 20 percent owned by British Petroleum. Shell and Exxon Mobil Corp. are both drilling for oil and natural gas in the eastern part of Russia near Sakhalin Island, and the UK’s Glencore Corp. trades in Russian metal and oil.
Sanction what Biden is threatening to sanction and the ripple effect will harm U.S. and European ally’s efforts and energy flow causing prices in our country and theirs to necessarily rise even higher than prices are projected to rise this summer.
Putin
wants Ukraine not just for strategic, sentimental or land acquisition reasons, but
also for the natural resources available in Ukraine. While neither oil nor
natural gas are high on the list for Putin, it’s the abundance of
other natural resources such as coal, iron ore, manganese, salt,
graphite, sulfur, kaolin, titanium, nickel, magnesium, timber, and
mercury that Putin wants...resources which will surely add to Russia’s
manufacturing capabilities while adding money to Russia’s economy
in the process.
In fact, Russia's ambassador to Israel, one Anatoly Viktorov, recently stated that discussions between the two countries do not focus on Ukraine, but instead focus on “bilateral and regional agenda as well as other issues, which can contribute to the further development of Russian–Israeli friendly relations for the benefit of the peoples of our countries.”
However, Israel might be the very country that helps to diffuse this situation in a way that no one has expected. How so...because if Iran does announce its having a nuclear weapon within the next few weeks, as is being projected, the focus will shift off Russia and Ukraine and return once again to the Middle East. This in turn will force both Russia and Ukraine to make compromises and concessions to their individual agendas as countering Iranian aggression will take top priority for all areas within Iran's possible launch capabilities.
Simply, even at the most seemingly critical of times diverting can mean deflecting which does tend to temper down a crisis that is into a crisis that was, and Israel vs. Iran just might be that deflection for we do not believe that when push comes to shove that Russia will allow Israel to cease to exist.
Copyright
© 2022 / Diane Sori and Craig Andresen / Right Side Patriots / All rights reserved.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, February 8th from 7 to 8:30pm EST, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig Andresen and Diane Sori will discuss the joint article 'What Will Happen...An Educated Guess'; and important news of the day.
Hope you can tune in to RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS on https://rspradio1.com. Click 'LISTEN LIVE' starting at 6:50 pm EST with the show beginning at 7pm EST.
