Biden's Full Plate -- Ukraine, Taiwan, Tehran ..Pat Buchanan

[mystery-ak]

Biden's Full Plate -- Ukraine, Taiwan, Tehran
Pat Buchanan

Posted: Dec 10, 2021 12:01 AM

One day after warning Russian President Vladimir Putin he would face "severe" economic sanctions, "like ones he's never seen," should Russia invade Ukraine, President Joe Biden assured Americans that sending U.S. combat troops to Ukraine is "not on the table."

America is not going to fight Russia over Ukraine.

"The idea that the United States is going to unilaterally use force to confront Russia invading Ukraine is not in the cards," said Biden. "We have a moral obligation and a legal obligation to our NATO allies," but "that obligation does not extend to ... Ukraine."

Anti-interventionists who have opposed bringing Ukraine into NATO may just have kept America out of a confrontation or war with Russia.

Yet hard negotiations lie ahead on the two demands Putin has made a condition of keeping his 100,000 troops on his side of the border.

First, there must be legal guarantees Ukraine will not be brought into NATO. Second, the U.S. and NATO must not arm Kyiv with offensive weapons that would present an intolerable threat to Russia.

Meeting these conditions would seem an easier proposition than getting them written into an agreement acceptable to Kyiv.

How, for example, does Biden get the Ukrainians to accept a U.S.-Russia deal that says their country can never be a member of NATO?

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https://townhall.com/columnists/patbuchanan/2021/12/10/bidens-full-plate--ukraine-taiwan-tehran-n2600391

[Kamaji]

When you need to play chess or poker against an opponent over a dubious hand, you don't lay out the hand ahead of time, you bluff and see if your opponent will call your bluff or not (in which case you need to have developed an exit strategy).

To that end, it might have been wise to have told the Ukraine president, in private, that if it came to it, the U.S. would not commit troops to a hot fight with Russia over Ukraine, but it was the depth of unwisdom to have denied yourself the use of feint and bluff by making that stupid comment in public.

[dfwgator]

Not my circus not my monkeys.

[rustynail]

Joe ended the six day war and brought lasting peace to the mid-east.  Joe's got this.

[Hoodat]

When you need to play chess or poker against an opponent over a dubious hand, you don't lay out the hand ahead of time, you bluff and see if your opponent will call your bluff or not (in which case you need to have developed an exit strategy).

To that end, it might have been wise to have told the Ukraine president, in private, that if it came to it, the U.S. would not commit troops to a hot fight with Russia over Ukraine, but it was the depth of unwisdom to have denied yourself the use of feint and bluff by making that stupid comment in public.

Exactly.  When it comes to diplomacy, just like everything else, Biden doesn't have a clue. The entire administration talks in terms of explaining how to their jobs as if they are currently enrolled in a training class explaining to you things they have just learned.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Biden's Full Plate -- Ukraine, Taiwan, Tehran, Tuesday pudding