No he can’t. Not really.

But Biden is in a bad place on domestic policy. And the Ukraine crisis provides at least some hope for a win.

The formula is simple. Putin makes moves on the Ukraine and Biden plays the hero riding to the rescue. The more the media blows it up, the more it will look like a win when no invasion takes place.

Putin will get some concessions from the Ukraine, after enough pressure from the White House, and Biden will get a win.

Or what looks like a win.

Some people on the right are shouting loudly that there will be a war. No one can predict the future, but I highly doubt it. I’m not in the business of predicting the future, but if I had to guess, that would be the outcome. A lot of noise, a lot of diplomacy, Putin coming away with both tangible and political wins, and Biden emerging with a political win.

Is Putin colluding with the Biden administration to give him his own Cuban missile crisis? Who knows. But considering that Biden went to the mat to protect his NordStream 2 pipeline, while opposing the Keystone and the Greco-Israeli pipeline to Europe, there’s a lot more evidence for that… than any kind of war with Russia that will kill millions. 

A minor incursion or distraction is one thing. Anything bigger would trigger an even bigger public backlash.

Americans aren’t going to be reconciled to inflation or high crime, and the distraction here is likely to fail, but if this crisis plays out in predictable fashion, Biden will still owe Putin. And I imagine that he will repay him.