Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has proven himself to be a truly inspirational leader for the Ukrainian people. His response to Joe Biden’s offer of an evacuation and safe haven
in America, "I need ammunition, not a ride," ranks right up there with General Anthony McAuliffe’s defiant reply of “Nuts” when the Nazis demanded the surrender of Bastogne, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge.
And President Zelenskyy’s reply revealed as much about Biden’s character as it did his own.
What Biden’s offer of refuge after what would amount to a surrender if Zelenskyy left his post tells the world he’s not really interested in defeating the Russians in Ukraine, he just wants the problem to go away.
What’s more there are further obvious indicators that Biden isn’t interested in defeating the Russians, and #1 on the list is his failure to sanction Russian oil.
Right now, the United States is buying about $50 million dollars’ worth of oil a day from Russia. That’s $50 million dollars straight into the coffers of the Russian war machine to replenish Russian ammunition, pay Russian soldiers and replace lost and damaged equipment.
Which makes us ask whose side is Biden on: The guy to whom he gives $50 million dollars a day or the guy to whom he offered a one-way ticket worth about $1,000?
Then there’s the matter of the other levers of power that Biden could deploy to assist Ukraine.
You know what you don't see today? Private American companies shutting off their services in Russia, to cripple the Russian economy: Google, Amazon, Apple, PayPal, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Microsoft, Xbox, Netflix, eBay, etc. are all still doing business with Russia like nothing has happened.
Indeed, the only high-profile company that has moved to assist Ukraine is Elon Musk’s Starlink internet satellite system. Mr. Musk has, in response to a plea from Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, made Starlink available in Ukraine and promised that more terminals to use it are on the way.
President Joe Biden’s “tough” economic sanctions against Russia, in retaliation for Russia President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, will not involve removing the country from the global SWIFT banking system, as allies remain divided on whether to deploy the 'nuclear option' action, reported Jonathan Vanian for Fortune Magazine.
Biden revealed Washington's new tranche of economic sanctions on Thursday during a media briefing reported by Mr. Vanian. Soon after, the U.S. Department of Treasury detailed some of the penalties, which include sanctions against Russia’s two biggest state-owned banks, Sberbank and VTB Bank, in addition to 90 financial subsidiaries of the two banks.
U.S. sanctions will also target family members close to Putin and a host of other Russian financial elites. However, Biden said that the U.S. and European allies are not currently considering removing Russia from the financial messaging and payment system known as The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT.
So, we sanction Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and his cronies, but not the Russian war machine. This is a strange new kind of war where we apparently are freezing Putin’s charge account at Tiffany, but not the Russian military’s access to strategic materials.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Sunday and reported by John Solomon’s Just the News showed Biden’s approval fell to 37%, the lowest rating since he took office in January. The decline comes as his administration deals with rising inflation and crime, fallout from his open borders policy and the Ukraine crisis.
The poll held numerous warning signs for the Democrat president, with 55% saying they disapprove and 44% strongly disapproving. Dissatisfaction among independent voters rose to 61%.
Biden’s approval on handling the Russian invasion of Ukraine is tanking because Americans aren’t stupid. They see Russia isn't being treated as a pariah, no matter the theater at the UN and Biden’s non-sanction sanctions.
As Richard Goldberg, a former Director at the Trump NSC argued, if the State Department keeps exceptions for working with Russian diplomats, Moscow won't feel isolated because it is NOT isolated. Cancel these exceptions and make Russia feel the diplomatic consequences. Compel SWIFT to remove all Russian banks, starting with the Central Bank of Russia. The CBR should be subject to US secondary sanctions as well, argued Mr. Goldberg.
If Biden were really serious about defeating Putin, he would not engage in these half measures, he would use every lever of American power short of war to drive Putin out of Ukraine. That he offered Zelenskyy a ride to safety, not ammunition, shows he just wants to get rid of a problem that is driving down his poll numbers. We should not be celebrating the half-measures and loopholes of Biden’s fake support for Ukraine if we are truly opposed to Putin’s thuggery and adventurism.
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