{"id":1685014,"date":"2022-10-12T09:26:42","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T13:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1685014"},"modified":"2022-10-12T09:26:52","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T13:26:52","slug":"biden-is-completely-failing-to-deter-putin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-is-completely-failing-to-deter-putin\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Is Completely Failing to Deter Putin"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-is-completely-failing-to-deter-putin%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1685014&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"first-char\">L<\/span>ivening up a Thursday fundraiser, President Joe Biden said, \u201cThink about it. We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis. We\u2019ve got a guy I know fairly well; his name is Vladimir Putin\u2026. It\u2019s part of Russian doctrine that they will not \u2014 they will not \u2014 if the motherland is threatened, they\u2019ll use whatever force they need, including nuclear weapons.\u201d He added, \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any such thing as an ability to easily [use] a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the space of a minute or two, Biden demonstrated weakness, fear, and a lack of historical knowledge that any president should have in order to lead this nation and our allies.<\/p>\n<p>Biden also demonstrated that whatever thoughts he and his Cabinet have with respect to Putin\u2019s possible use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, he and they have given up on the idea of deterring <a href=\"https:\/\/spectator.org\/tag\/vladimir-putin\/\">Putin<\/a> from doing so.<\/p>\n<p>Equating the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis with the situation in Ukraine emphasized Biden\u2019s fear and weakness. In the Cuban Missile Crisis, the United States and the Soviet Union were in a direct confrontation over Soviet nuclear missiles deployed in Cuba. The two nations <a href=\"https:\/\/spectator.org\/the-cuban-missile-crisis-was-an-american-defeat\/\">were on the brink of nuclear war<\/a>. The U.S. had blockaded Cuba and Russian ships were headed to Cuba to defy the blockade.<\/p>\n<p>At that point, backchannel discussions, reportedly begun by a Russian general through ABC News reporter John Scali, led to a deal that avoided nuclear war. The deal was for the Soviets to remove their missiles from Cuba in exchange for Kennedy agreeing to withdraw U.S. missiles from Turkey and guaranteeing that we would not to invade Cuba.<\/p>\n<p>There is no direct confrontation with Russia over Ukraine. Russia has, by Putin\u2019s nuclear saber-rattling, which began almost as soon as the war started, tried to intimidate NATO and evidently has succeeded in intimidating Biden. The latest round of Putin\u2019s nuclear threats has come in actions as much as words.<\/p>\n<p>In 2018, Putin revealed several \u201cdoomsday\u201d weapons that he said made Russia untouchable. Among them were hypersonic missiles and an enormous nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed torpedo named \u201cPoseidon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Six of the Poseidon weapons, allegedly with a 6,000-mile range, are carried aboard the Russian submarine <em>Belgorod<\/em>. When the sub went missing last week, rumors quickly went the rounds in the defense community that Putin would explode a Poseidon warhead somewhere in the Kara Sea, which begins in Russia\u2019s northwest and extends to the Arctic Circle. The intention of the test would be to further intimidate NATO.<\/p>\n<p>There have so far been no nuclear detonations in the Kara Sea or elsewhere. The <em>Belgorod<\/em> popped back up in the Barents Sea a few days later.<\/p>\n<p>Russian setbacks in the war in Ukraine continue. Its railroad bridge across the Kerch Strait was partially destroyed a few days ago. The bridge, joining Russia with the Crimean Peninsula (and effectively blocking grain shipments from a major Ukrainian port because ships of any size can\u2019t pass under it) was a major path for resupplying Russian forces in Ukraine. It will probably take months to repair.<\/p>\n<p>Those matters are side issues. The principal questions are: what will Biden and NATO do to make Putin\u2019s nuclear blackmail fail, and what response will the U.S. and NATO have to any Russian nuclear attack in Ukraine?<\/p>\n<p>Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine has split NATO from the beginning. The \u201cSWIFT\u201d consortium provides the means for the near-instant clearance of bank transactions by electronic communication. When Russia invaded Ukraine, the supposedly harsh sanctions imposed on some Russian banks weren\u2019t imposed on the banks that made the oil and gas trade with Russia possible.<\/p>\n<p>According to a <em>Financial Times<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/3c44c7b6-c439-4b28-bf3c-4f420cdfa404\">report<\/a>, European Union nations have bought at least $97 billion in oil, gas, and coal from Russia since the war began in February. That money is probably more than enough to pay for Putin\u2019s war.<\/p>\n<p>Biden has threatened \u201ccatastrophic\u201d consequences for Russia if it uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine. But, given NATO\u2019s divisions and weakness, what could they be?<\/p>\n<p>There are several actions we could take, both now to deter Putin and, if a Russian nuclear weapon is detonated in Ukraine, to retaliate. But to take any of those actions, Biden \u2014 who has no skills in leadership \u2014 would have to convince the NATO nations to join us.<\/p>\n<p>Biden and NATO have been trying to walk a thin line between provoking Moscow and helping Ukraine. To deter Putin, Biden, the U.K.\u2019s Liz Truss, Germany\u2019s Olaf Scholz, and France\u2019s Emmanuel Macron would have to agree publicly to do the following as a warning to Putin.<\/p>\n<p>First, when the war began and economic sanctions were imposed on Russia, they were far too mild to accomplish anything. Putin should be told that if a nuke were detonated in Ukraine, all Russian banks \u2014 including those which have made it possible to buy Russian gas, oil, and coal \u2014 would be evicted from the SWIFT consortium. Were all Russian banks thrown out of SWIFT, Russia\u2019s economy would suffer enormously.<\/p>\n<p>Second, Biden \u2014 to his credit \u2014 has supplied Ukraine with about $17 billion in weapons, including HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System), which have enabled Ukraine to strike far behind Russian lines. But Biden has prevented Ukraine from getting more combat aircraft, which, as I have written several times, they most need to deal with mobile Russian forces. Biden should promise to supply them from Poland or wherever they can be obtained.<\/p>\n<p>Third, only the U.K. has been openly training Ukrainian forces to fight with the weapons being provided. We should do the same. Putin should know that if a nuke strike occurs in Ukraine, that nation will receive not only Soviet-era MiG-29s, but also U.S. F-16s. Ukrainian pilots can be trained to fly them \u2014 in the U.S. \u2014 in relatively short order.<\/p>\n<p>Fourth, all NATO nations should threaten a complete embargo on trade with Russia if Putin strikes with a nuclear weapon. That wouldn\u2019t decisively cripple Russia\u2019s economy, but it would hurt.<\/p>\n<p>Putin knows that Biden\u2019s threat is an empty one. The only question that could cause or prevent a Russian nuclear weapon to be used in Ukraine is Putin\u2019s state of mind and that of his advisers.<\/p>\n<p>How desperate are they to prevent a Russian defeat in Ukraine? As I <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2022\/sep\/21\/will-putin-nuke-ukraine\/\">wrote<\/a> about three weeks ago, winter is coming and, with it, a slowdown of the war. Both sides will rearm and prepare for accelerating the war in the spring.<\/p>\n<p>In his Thursday \u201cArmageddon\u201d warning, Biden indicated that he is seeking an \u201coff-ramp\u201d for Putin by which the war could be ended without humiliating Russia. Putin, on the other hand, continues to fraudulently annex Ukrainian territory, claiming that it is now part of Russia. What that means is that any off-ramp for Putin would include recognizing all or part of his annexations of parts of Ukraine, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has no reason to accept.<\/p>\n<p>From his Thursday remarks, it\u2019s clear that Biden fears Putin\u2019s use of nuclear weapons more than Putin fears the consequences for doing so.<\/p>\n<p>Nuclear blackmail must not be allowed to succeed or Russia, China, and Iran will use it to our detriment for decades to come.<\/p>\n<p>Biden is too weak and fearful to lead NATO. He won\u2019t because he can\u2019t and because Putin is living, rent-free, inside his head.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Livening up a Thursday fundraiser, President Joe Biden said, \u201cThink about it. We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis. We\u2019ve got a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1685016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1685014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1685014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1685014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1685014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1685016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1685014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1685014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1685014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}