The commander in chief was so opposed to forever wars that he recklessly withdrew U.S. forces from Afghanistan. But now, President Joe Biden seems committed to dragging America into an even bigger quagmire: a never-ending war in Ukraine that could go nuclear.
It gets worse. Biden might be giving tens of billions of dollars in aid to Kyiv, but he has never declared any sort of strategy or end state for the conflict. So as we literally take weapons out of our own Pentagon stockpiles to help Ukraine kill Russian soldiers, Americans have no clear strategy to look to. True, we keep getting told that the United States wants to see Ukraine achieve some sort of victory.
But what does victory look like? And what are we willing to risk in order to get to that end state? So far, the Biden White House is full of slick talking points but little substance.
WESTERN DEFENSE LEADERS REITERATE SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE AFTER RUSSIAN ONSLAUGHT
This is unacceptable, especially since America could be directly dragged into this fight. As Russia makes nuclear threats, we must be given a better idea of what our leaders hope to achieve in Ukraine and how they hope to avoid an atomic holocaust.
There are only three possible outcomes that follow any sort of logic that Biden could be pressing for.
First, Washington is arming Ukraine not only to defend itself but restore its borders back to where they were in February — and nothing more. That would make the most logical sense and seems like an achievable outcome that poses the least risk of a nuclear showdown with Putin. Next up would be Kyiv ejecting Russia from Crimea and all Ukrainian territories that Russia seized in 2014. While not impossible, it would take more military firepower than we are giving Ukraine at present. Even if this approach would be more dangerous, there would at least be a clear end goal, and a strategy could be crafted to achieve it.
Then, we get to the downright scary: regime change in Russia. Trying to remove a man in charge of 6,000 nuclear warheads likely means World War III and billions dead. But keep in mind President Biden’s March speech in Poland stating that Putin “cannot remain in power.” Washington might hope that by adding exponential military pressure on Putin, it can rally Russian elites or the military to depose him.
Top line: While Americans can debate these possible end states for the war in Ukraine, it is completely unacceptable to have no idea at all of what team Biden is driving toward. Especially at a time when Ukraine and Russia’s attacks on each other get bolder and bolder and Kyiv demands more and more weapons. At some point, Moscow could very well decide that its back is truly against the wall and use a tactical nuclear weapon to level the playing field, as it has no idea of what Washington will and won’t do.
Now is the time when Americans need to hear from their president and get a greater sense of what his goals are — and how he plans to see this war end. Vague pronouncements are worthless and only drive tensions higher.
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Harry J. Kazianis is the president of the Rogue States Project. You can follow him on Twitter: @Grecianformula.
