Apparently, Psaki and Biden’s tough talking did little to dissuade Putin from predictably invading Ukraine, or, as Moscow puts it, embarking on a “peacekeeping mission” inside Ukraine. With tanks.
Then again, since CNN loves to call violent, arsonist, murderous riots “peaceful protests,” it seems fairly accurate that “peacekeeping missions” for a Russian invasion of a sovereign nation would be accurate.
Max Seddon, who serves as the Financial Times’ Moscow Bureau Chief, notes that Putin has invaded Ukraine based on the justification of recognizing independent republics within the region.
“Putin has ordered Russian troops into Ukraine. The decrees on recognizing the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics order the Russian armed forces to go into separatist territory on peacekeeping missions,” Seddon observes.
The “peacekeeping mission” emerged shortly after Putin read a decree that effectively declared a repartitioning of Ukraine’s borders.
“Today, the leadership of the [Donetsk People’s Republic] and [Luhansk People’s Republic] received appeals to recognize their sovereignty in connection with the military aggression of the Ukrainian authorities, massive shelling of the territory of Donbas, as a result of which the civilian population suffers,” Putin declared, “With all this in mind, the President of Russia said that he intended to sign a corresponding decree in the near future.”
In other words, Putin pulled another one over Biden by agreeing to talks “in principle” while simultaneously preparing his “peacekeeping mission” to invade Ukraine.
Needless to say, Psaki has started to talk tough again, clearly not aware of the fact that tough talk does little to stop gargantuan tanks from rolling towards civilians.
“President Biden will soon issue an Executive Order that will prohibit new investment, trade, and financing by U.S. persons to, from, or in the so-called DNR and LNR regions of Ukraine. We will also soon announce additional measures related to today’s blatant violation of Russia’s international commitments,” Psaki brayed.
Ah. Well, that’s useful, now that tanks are actually barreling straight towards those cities.
Moreover, Ms. Psaki, if Biden was really so intent on disempowering Putin, exactly why did he allow the Nord Stream pipeline to flourish, the same pipeline that Trump had sanctioned, for rather obvious reasons?
Psaki can say whatever she wants, but at the end of the day her boss folded to the Taliban.
No amount of tough talk can come back from that, though the press secretary is certainly making a valiant effort to do so.
“To be clear: these measures are separate from and would be in addition to the swift and severe economic measures we have been preparing in coordination with Allies and partners should Russia further invade Ukraine,” she intoned.
The EU has quickly followed suit in harshly criticizing Putin’s “peacekeeping missions,” which fly in the face of international law.
“President Michel and President von der Leyen condemn in the strongest possible terms the decision by the Russian President to proceed with the recognition of the non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine as independent entities,” the EU declared.
Unfortunately for the EU, Trump is no longer at the helm, which means that the future on the continent is very frightening indeed with a sleeping Biden behind the wheel.
Retired Four Star General David Petraeus also weighed in on Putin’s potential tactics, which are all the more probable if he knows he can get away with it.
“It’s very hard to say what he’s planning at this point other than that he has certainly positioned all of his forces to invade Ukraine, to provide a Russian example of shock and awe if he decides, if he calculates that that is worth pursuing,” Petraeus warned.
One thing is for sure: Putin has certainly calculated that Biden is asleep behind the wheel …
