![]() In June, after months of delays, the Biden administration delivered game-changing High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), but only 16 of them, because the Pentagon reportedly balked at further depleting U.S. In March, Biden blocked the transfer of MiG-29 jets from Poland to Ukraine (the Ukrainians to this day still lack sufficient air power). The next month, war broke out-and intelligence sharing and military assistance to Ukraine were on the chopping block, with White House lawyers arguing it might make the United States a party to the war. Later that same month, the administration withheld approval for Baltic nations to deliver Javelins and Stingers to Ukraine.īy January, the Biden administration had completely bought into the “don’t anger Russia” narrative coming from certain quarters inside the administration (I’m told it was the Pentagon), and was contemplating force posture reductions in Eastern Europe. December saw a $200 million drawdown blocked. government to export existing defense stocks.) After denying it was blocked, Sullivan allowed they would permit the drawdown “in the event there was a further Russian incursion into Ukraine.” It was finally approved in August 2021 (likely as a deliverable for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington that September).īy autumn, the Biden administration was back to its old game, blocking the delivery of Stinger missiles, suggesting it would provoke Russia. In response to the 2021 Russian military buildup on its border with Ukraine (that prepositioned equipment ultimately used to invade in 2022), the Biden administration blocked $60 million in U.S. The problems were clear even before the invasion. Weirdly, in the event, however, it wasn’t. The psychological operations were beautifully choreographed with a Cold War verve that promised that Biden’s national security team was on its game and prepared for what was to come. Worse, it portends serious risk that, should the conflict drag on and costs continue to rise, the White House will begin to pressure Ukraine for a negotiated peace with Moscow-ending the war, for example, before Kyiv can retake Crimea or even sooner.Įarlier this year was more hopeful: In the weeks before the Russian invasion in February, the Biden administration shrewdly declassified intelligence about Russian plans, moves, and plots to blame Ukraine for causing a war. That hesitation has meant more deaths and a slower path to victory for Ukraine, congressional national security staff tell me. president and his staff have repeatedly described as the threat of World War III. The two events belie a troubling undercurrent in the Biden administration: a hesitation about fully supporting Ukraine, a slow rolling of vital weaponry, and an almost pathological fear of what the U.S. ![]() Nope, insist “senior government officials,” it was the Ukrainians, hastening to add that the United States had no hand in the attack. Daria Dugina was killed in a car bomb, and some Ukrainian officials suggested the attack could have been a false flag operation on the part of the Kremlin to stir hostility against the “Nazis” in Kyiv. Weeks later, “senior officials” in the Biden administration made a point of leaking the results of an investigation into the murder of the daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ally Alexander Dugin. One of them is long-range missiles that have a range of 300 kilometers” because “while a key goal of the United States is to support and defend Ukraine, another key goal is to ensure that we do not end up in a circumstance where we are heading down the road toward a third world war.” But, he demurred, “there are certain capabilities the president has said he is not prepared to provide. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan again proclaimed the Biden administration’s enthusiasm for supporting Ukraine against Russia.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |