₦airaland Forum

house10s2:
BY NILE GARDINER

The increasingly likely Russian invasion of Ukraine is a wake-up call for the West, a shattering of the illusion that the spectre of war can be banished from modern-day Europe. Tens of thousands may die on the altar of the vainglorious imperial ambitions of a vicious regime in Moscow headed by a brutal tyrant. Kyiv, one of the biggest cities in Europe, could be conquered by invading Russian troops in what might be the biggest urban battle the European continent has witnessed since the Second World War.

The impending war in Ukraine has exposed not just the impotence and shameful appeasement mindset of Europe’s ruling elites in Brussels, Berlin and Paris. It has also sharply illustrated the tragic decline of American leadership on the world stage.

It is no coincidence that Vladimir Putin has mobilised more than 150,000 Russian troops on Ukraine’s borders while Joe Biden is in the White House. Clearly, Mr Putin views Biden as a pushover, a weak-kneed president obsessed with his sinking domestic agenda while Rome burns across the Atlantic.

Much like his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, Joe Biden has no clear strategic vision for the United States in the global arena. His foreign policy has been overwhelmingly reactive, based very heavily upon the naive ideal of multilateral diplomacy, rather than the projection of American might and power. Obama’s advisers spoke of “leading from behind”. Biden’s team, many of whom served in the Obama administration, can barely even lead at all.

On the Ukraine front, the Russians were already massing troops as early as March last year, with no real response at the time from Washington. Instead of actively working to prevent a Russian invasion, the White House’s approach has been premised largely upon responding to one. There has been too little action on deterrence. The focus instead has been on measures to punish Russia economically for its actions, sanctions that may never come to pass with a divided Europe so heavily dependent upon Moscow for energy.

In contrast to Donald Trump, Biden’s foreign policy has been both predictable and distinctly lacking in bite. The Russians found to their cost that although Trump espoused isolationist and non-interventionist views, he was prepared to use military force against Russian interests in Syria, and strategic leverage against their ambitions in Europe: his presidency actively campaigned against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline running to Germany.

It was Biden’s election that ultimately ensured the massive pipeline project could be completed without the implementation of US sanctions. Biden’s refusal to take real action against Nord Stream 2 was a huge strategic win for the Kremlin, and a significant factor emboldening the Russians over Ukraine.

The disastrous American withdrawal from Afghanistan last August further convinced the Russians that the United States no longer had the stomach to fight against even far lesser adversaries, and was willing to allow the Taliban to return to power in a country that had been the launch pad for the 9/11 terrorist attacks that claimed 3,000 lives.

The lessons from American weakness in Afghanistan and in Europe have been closely observed in Beijing. It is no coincidence that the Chinese-Russian axis is now at its strongest point in decades.

Putin and Xi Jinping are today collaborating on practically every major foreign policy issue, from Taiwan to Ukraine and Iran. The Biden White House has no.......


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IgweOfNnewi:
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shortIGBOman:
Thank God I still get Iya. I heard that, IPOB Bandits don kill and Cannibalised all the Iya's in your Region.

Roon9:
The usual gibberish from an empty skull

RichNFamos1:
Drop ur number let me inbox u

Whois:
„You can fool some people some times but you cant fool all the people all the time“ — Bob Marley

olugabbie:
The UK pushed the Ukrainians into this war. They should do more.

olugabbie:
So far, Poland has received 750,000. While UK has only received 30,000.