By Jacob Heilbrunn, The National Interest, 1/1/22
Has President Joe Biden become Russia’s most trusted foreign interlocutor? Donald Trump was widely portrayed as the Kremlin’s cat’s-paw by the Western media, but he proved to be erratic and unreliable in foreign affairs, careening almost daily from bombastic threats to emollient language. Enter Biden.
When it comes to Russia policy, Biden has sought to promote what might be called détente-lite with Moscow without using the dreaded word “reset.” The governing theory of the Biden administration—or, to put it more precisely, national security adviser Jake Sullivan—has been that China, not Russia, poses the gravest foreign policy challenge to America. In the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance, the White House mentioned China fifteen times, Russia five, and Ukraine not at all. Biden himself is working through the National Security Council (NSC) to attempt to craft a new policy towards Moscow. Biden, in other words, is the Decider.
This is why Russian president Vladimir Putin requested a second phone conversation with Biden. The Russians believe that absent Biden’s personal involvement any potential progress would likely be sabotaged by the State Department bureaucracy, which is highly sympathetic to Ukraine. Indeed, at a recent foreign ministry meeting, Russian sources indicate, Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov specifically referenced Biden—to praise his positive role in promoting dialogue with Moscow.
Read full article here.
What is it with this zombie Brzezinski idea that Russia wants to “invade” and “take over” Ukraine, especially now that the consequences of the “Maidan” have been to put so many new nails in the coffin of the Ukrainian economy, to supercharge corruption and to tear apart its society? I remember when “Ze” was in DC he floated a plan for the Americans (public? Private?) to put up $279 billion to underwrite the transformation of the Ukrainian economy. Of course, the Americans ignored the whole gambit, but the figure could be close to what would be required annually (given that the Ukrainian elite would be due its “cut”) to stimulate the corpse of the Ukrainian economy. Russia, I believe, is not at all interested in this “project”, nor in the immediate prospect of having to administer and feed a hostile population. No, the troop concentrations in the area adjoining the Donbass (do they exist?) would be, as was the case in March-April, a warning to the idiots in Kiev not to do anything stupid in terms of a “Sakashvili” solution to the Donbass issue.