Wednesday 27 March 2024

Is Biden going to fail in Ukraine as well as in Gaza?

President Joe Biden vowed to back Ukraine all the way and then said the same for Israel after the Hamas atrocities on October 7. But in each case the Biden Doctrine is failing. Thanks to the Republicans in Congress, US funds for sending desperately-needed weapons to Ukraine, have stalled. So that's not Biden's fault. That's the fault of short-sighted, electioneering Republicans who are putting domestic politics ahead of Ukraine's future existence. But from the very beginning Biden has made it clear he was going to arm Ukraine in order for it to "defend" itself against the Russian invasion. But more and more, Kyiv is going on the offensive and is almost daily attacking targets inside Russia, including its oil infrastructure, arms depots, and airbases. They are doing this based on the oldest of adages which is that if you want to defeat an enemy you hit them where it hurts most. But Biden has urged Kyiv not to use America's advanced weaponry to strike at Russia itself but to focus on defending itself within the territory of Ukraine. Indeed, the Biden administration has deliberately not sent really long-range weaponry because of the apparent fear in Washington that attacks with US weapons inside Russia could provoke Putin to resort to terrible revenge - ie, resort to tactical nuclear weapons on the basis that the Russian motherland is facing an existential threat. So, for example, there's a longer-range HIMARS rocket system available but the US won't send it. They have just sent the more basic system with a shorter range. Now Biden has appealed to Zelensky not to attack Russia's oil infrastructure. What! This is what Russia is doing in Ukraine. Surely Kyiv has the right to answer back in kind? It's a bit of a contradiction. The same goes in Gaza. Biden, for good humanitarian reasons, doesn't want the Israel Defence Forces to assault Rafah in the south because of all the Palestinians living there. But, in a sense, both in Israel and in Ukraine, Biden wants Tel Aviv and Kyiv to fight back with one arm tied behind their backs.

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