Biden IS weak, but even if Trump had been President, my sole expectation of him would have been to keep us out of a war with potential calamitous consequences over something which was not strategically important to us. There is no need to risk nuclear war over the Ukraine.
Taiwan, yes, we should fight for Taiwan. All in. But not Ukraine.
And I will say this: the only thing I am sure about in all this is that something is going on that I don’t understand. Putin’s Russia depends on European trade, and even if he can bully his way out of sanctions it will be natural for the Europeans to start finding ways out of their deals with Russia. This whole thing will create opportunities for somebody.
So what does he gain with all this? I don’t know. Taking two small parts of the Ukraine made sense to me. Taking the whole thing doesn’t.
It feels like an act of desperation, not rational calculation. And I will wonder aloud if all these past years of the Deep State using Putin as a bad guy and punching bag, for things, in general, that he didn’t do, has created the situation in which invading Ukraine made sense to Putin.
I have to wonder if he sees the Deep State winning over here, and a monolithic threat evolving against which he has few good options.
Or maybe it is one of the bizarre conspiracy theories–and in this case I think that phrase is apt– I am seeing. If you are into that sort of thing, then you are seeing them too.
And it’s interesting seeing today’s kids get a taste of what growing up during the Cold War felt like. And we never had any threats this direct in my lifetime, so it would be fair to say this is worse. It’s scary. We are helpless.
It would be nice to have a President who didn’t need ice cream to speak even incoherent sentences. Who makes the decisions in a situation like this? There’s no one there. Joe is probably literally wearing adult diapers that come in useful sometimes. Is it delegated to the Secretary of Defense? Campaign donors? Bill Gates? A Ouiji Board?
It’s impossible to know, isn’t it?