Biden's Ukraine Crisis

There are reports this morning that hundreds of Russian military trains, packed with troops, are moving into Belarus on the northern border of Ukraine.  Russia already has more than 100,000 troops and 1,200 tanks massed along Ukraine's eastern border. 

In response to the rising tensions, Joe Biden put 8,500 U.S. troops on heightened alert yesterday in a purely symbolic move.  If Putin invades Ukraine, these troops will be deployed to other eastern European nations, not Ukraine.

And what exactly are the various members of NATO doing? 

• The British are deploying defensive weapons systems, which according to the British defense minister are "no threat to Russia."  No doubt Vladimir Putin agrees with that assessment and doesn't feel threatened at all.
• Canada is sending "a small contingent of special forces."
• Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are sending weapons to Ukraine that we provided to them for their own defense against Russia.
• Denmark is sending one ship and a few F-16 fighters to Lithuania. 
• Spain is sending four fighter jets to Bulgaria and three ships to bolster NATO forces in the Black Sea.
• Turkey is sending armed drones.
• The U.S. has deployed two aircraft carrier strike forces (here and here) to the Mediterranean. But these deployments were planned many months ago as part of routine exercises, not in response to the current crisis in Ukraine.

It's important to understand that Ukraine is in Russia's backyard.  It's like Mexico to us.  If European NATO nations are unwilling to do anything serious, it's highly unlikely that the United States would do so unilaterally. 

Moreover, the American people do not want us to engage Russia militarily.  One recent poll found that only 15% of Americans support the deployment of U.S. troops to Ukraine.  I suspect many Americans find it infuriating that Biden and Harris put defending Ukraine's borders ahead of protecting our southern border.

Meanwhile, the State Department is telling Americans to leave Ukraine immediately, warning them that they are on their own because Biden Administration doesn't have any evacuation plans in place. 

Here's the bottom line.

• We can impose tough sanctions on Russia, but as long as Germany and other European nations are dependent on Russia for energy, it is unlikely those sanctions will have the impact Biden claims.
• If Vladimir Putin has decided that can endure whatever sanctions Biden may impose, he will invade or overthrow Ukraine's government. 
• I do not believe there is any will in NATO to respond militarily, and, as I indicated above, the American people do not support sending our armed forces into Ukraine.  I don't support that either.

A final note:  We've seen this movie before.  When Putin invaded the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, the Obama/Biden Administration did nothing.  No doubt Putin is expecting a similar reaction from the Biden/Harris Administration this time, too