Stronger 'curtain of air power' vital to combat Russian aggression: Rebecca Grant
National security analyst discusses why NATO will likely need more permanently based forces in Eastern Europe amid the Ukraine war on 'America Reports.'
"For God’s sake, this man must not remain in power." That blast at Russian President Vladimir Putin was the finale of President Joe Biden’s speech in Warsaw, Poland, on Saturday. Talk about escalatory. The White House took less than 40 minutes to walk back the zinger.
"He was not discussing Putin’s power or regime change," a White House official said.
Too late. With that remark, U.S. relations with Russia plunged into the deep freeze. President John F. Kennedy never said that to Nikita Khrushchev. Ronald Reagan didn’t say it to Mikhail Gorbachev (who is still alive, by the way). Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not called for Putin to be overthrown.
BIDEN'S WASTED OPPORTUNITY ON UKRAINE AT NATO MEETING SHOWS HE'S WAY OVER HIS HEAD
No, it was just Joe Biden out there, taking aim at Putin with the biggest word bomb of his presidency.
Despite the White House cleanup attempt, I’m still fixated on this stunning remark because it so perfectly captures Biden’s shortcomings as a national and world leader in the Ukraine crisis.
You think it was just another gaffe, like Biden’s "minor incursion" remark of Jan. 15, or his confusion on chemical weapons responses on Thursday? Well, I believe Biden was sincerely trying his best in Warsaw. He was moved by his visits with American soldiers in Poland. You saw Biden’s bright smile and delight in meeting Ukrainian children up close. And on Day 32 of the war, who doesn’t agree that Putin is obscene and a dictator and a butcher and the sole cause of this misery?
Biden throws down cutting remarks when his dander is up. But he can’t translate his emotions into statesmanship.
Here’s the problem. Biden throws down cutting remarks when his dander is up. But he can’t translate his emotions into statesmanship. The Warsaw speech swiveled from fiery rhetoric to dry teleprompter policy. Biden did not announce significant new military support for Ukraine, but he did get in a plug for renewable energy.
Biden spoke in Warsaw as Russia is pulling back on the defensive. And to be fair, Biden did well to say the war was "already a strategic failure for Russia." How true. Russia has failed at air assault, air control, tank maneuver, logistics resupply, and even has a shocking 20% to 60% dud rate in its few precision munitions.
There is no doubt in my mind Russia attacked targets in Lviv on Saturday specifically to make black oily smoke a few hours before Biden’s speech. Biden should have called out this pathetic attempt to restore the illusion of Russian military power.
Warsaw was the moment for Biden to pledge victory for Ukraine in a calm and serious way – for "the sake of all that we ourselves hold dear and of world order and peace," as Britain’s King George VI said on Sep. 3., 1939.
Instead, Biden opted for an appeal "direct to the Russian people" to oppose Putin and the war.
And some big boasts. Biden’s team vastly prefers sanctions to military power. In Warsaw, Biden called sanctions "a new kind of economic statecraft with the power to inflict damage that rivals military might." How would that sound on the streets of Mariupol?
Remember Biden is still using the Obama playbook policy. When Russia attacked Crimea in March 2014, President Barack Obama sent Joe Biden, his vice president, to Poland to reassure allies and figure out ways to isolate Russia and reduce dependence on Russian energy. Fearful of Russian escalation, Biden praised NATO as the U.S. slapped on sanctions but stood back from the fight. Sound familiar?
Now in 2022, the war waged by Russia is far more deadly and brutal. "Russia was bent on violence from the start," Biden said in Warsaw. Apparently thinking Ukraine would roll over quickly, Team Biden was primed for economic, not military, action. No way was he ready for the scope of war – and destruction – Russia unleashed.
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Yet in the Warsaw speech, he boasted of "swift and powerful action" that would soon cut Russia’s economy in half. Biden’s team should have their mouths swabbed with soap for claiming anything they did was "swift and powerful."
Zelenskyy and the people of Ukraine deserved more than a lecture on the flame of liberty and the need for renewable energy. I’m all in favor of punishing Russian oligarchs but the number one priority is defeating Russia’s invasion forces in Ukraine. Hopefully, the earlier meeting Saturday with top U.S. and Ukrainian officials yielded private pledges to ramp up the military assistance and stick with Ukraine until their brilliant hit-and-run tactics force Russian troops out.
To my mind, Biden let down his host Poland, as well. Poland is under extreme pressure from the nearby war and from receiving 2 million Ukrainians. President Andrzej Duda refuses to call them refugees; he calls them guests, brothers, neighbors. The U.S. will help with humanitarian aid, but Poland also needs and deserves fresh military equipment.
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Take those MiG-29s. Poland would like to shed the 1980s-era jets, even though they’ve been upgraded, and replace them with U.S. F-16s and F-35s, which are more effective in NATO’s air policing. Biden could have easily made that happen, and met other Polish defense requests, too.
Biden failed to deliver a truly historic speech – but he’ll never live down his call to take down Putin.