Introduction

Dwarfing the assistance given by NATO and the EU, Biden to date has committed over $90 billion of taxpayers’ money to support Ukraine. This spending binge by Biden is more than Putin has available in his annual budget for the Russian military.

Russian troops claim officers refer to them as “meat” and expect them to assault Ukrainian positions without artillery or heavy gun support. Russian frontline soldiers are refusing to fight without proper equipment.

Russia Was Deliberately Provoked

Diplomats who oversaw post-Soviet negotiations with Russia in the 1990s knew that if NATO ever expanded to the Russian border, it would lead to war. Russia would no more tolerate the expansion of NATO to its border than the U.S. would tolerate Russian missiles in Cuba.

During the Russian troop build-up before the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, rather than promising Russia that Ukraine would not be invited to join NATO, the leadership at NATO encouraged Ukraine to fast-track NATO membership.

Finland’s April 2023 joining of NATO significantly increases the risk of a wider conflict.

Conclusion

Putin had expected a decisive win within days of the February 2022 invasion. Thanks to massive aid to Ukraine led by Biden, what he has gotten is a brutal mess.

James Olson, a decorated former chief of counterintelligence, who spent 30 years with the CIA, says Putin will never give up and withdraw his forces from Ukraine without securing all the regions he illegally “annexed” last year. The Russian military has proven unable to hold the territory so the war could drag out for years.

Olson believes Putin will probably be taken out by Russian military officers who are fed up with the war.

Photo by Mok Bar

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