By now it’s rather clear that Putin isn’t actually ready to invade Ukraine (or he would have done it by now), but expects to extract a bunch of concessions from Biden in exchange for a military build-up. It’s an easy game to play if you built up previously credibility invading the Ukraine and if your opponent is a chump whom people regularly accuse of having dementia.
The current phase of the crisis has Putin trading off an invasion he wasn’t going to commit to for NATO pullbacks, even while the State Department is eagerly drawing up a general regional blueprint with concessions for all. The whole sad farce will predictably climax with concessions from the U.S. in exchange for concessions from the Russians that they’re going to cheat on or withdraw from before too long.
But, to be fair, that’s been the history of U.S. – Russian negotiations for about 80 years. Why break up a good run now?
The last time the U.S. actually demanded a better deal from Russia was during the Trump administration when we stopped pretending that the worthless arms control agreements that the Russians were cheating on were worth investing in.
Trump demanded Russian concessions, Biden gave Putin more than he asked for. Is it any wonder that Putin is going to take Biden for all he’s good for now?
This is the Cuban Missile Crisis for dummies. The Russians got the better of that deal, they’ll definitely get the better one from this Dem.
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