All presidents seek to shape a foreign policy legacy. Serious question: Is President Joe Biden attempting to build a legacy centered on: “Never leave without leaving Americans behind”?
Consider the president’s remarkable exchange with NBC News’s Lester Holt in an interview on Thursday. Holt asked Biden about his contingency planning for Ukraine, being that indications suggest an imminent Russian re-invasion of that nation. Perhaps as early as next week.
HOLT: What scenarios would you put American troops to rescue and get Americans out.
BIDEN: There’s not. That’s a world war when Americans and Russians start shooting at one another, we’re in a very different world than we’ve ever been in.
HOLT: Not even on behalf of simply evacuating Americans?
BIDEN: No. How do you do that? How do you even find them? This is not like — I’m hoping that if in fact [Vladimir Putin’s] foolish enough to go in, he’s smart enough not to in fact do anything that would negatively impact on American citizens.
HOLT: Have you told him that?
BIDEN: Yes.
HOLT: You’ve told him that Americans would be a line that they can’t cross?
BIDEN: I didn’t have to tell him that. I’ve spoken about that, he knows that. And you know, it’s a little bit — look, what I’ve asked is that American citizens should leave, should leave now. We’re dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. This is a very different situation, and things could go crazy quickly.
Phew. There’s a lot to unpack. None of it good.
First off, we have Biden’s blanket rejection of any circumstances in which he would order the U.S. military to rescue Americans. Note that this includes Holt’s caveat even of “simply evacuating” Americans without the use of force.
Biden’s rationale? Rescue would lead to “world war.”
This is untrue. The Trump administration proved as much in 2018 when it ordered the U.S. military to destroy a Russian GRU intelligence service-led company that was attacking U.S. forces in Syria. Consider another countermanding example. When Russia invaded Georgia in August 2008, President George W. Bush ignored Russian demands that the U.S. military not enter Tbilisi and ordered an Air Force aid airlift. Putin tolerated that airlift because he judged it unwise to escalate against the U.S. and its then-president.
Next up, Biden’s suggestion that the U.S. wouldn’t be able to find any Americans in Ukraine. This is also false. Has the president not heard of cellphones or landlines or email or border crossings or airports or foreign embassies (that might offer Americans safe haven)? Give me a break.
Then, Biden offered the real whopper. His policy of protecting Americans in Ukraine is based, apparently entirely, on “hoping” that Vladimir Putin will protect Americans. Pushed by Holt as to whether he has made this clear to Putin, Biden said he has. Biden then clarified that he has not, in fact, done so. This is because “I didn’t have to tell him.” Biden helpfully concluded that the situation could “go crazy quickly.”
This is the height of folly. Indeed, were this delusional language coming from Biden’s predecessor, much of the commentariat would likely be crying treason. And not without some justification. After all, Putin views the subjugation of American pride and power as both a personal and a political objective. Biden has now effectively given Putin reason to think that he can use American citizens as bargaining chips.
The Russian leader’s record suggests he would absolutely do so. This might either be designed to deter Western sanctions pressure or simply to further degrade U.S. global credibility. Even if Putin decides not to use overt Russian military personnel for such a purpose, he might well use semi-deniable proxies in the same goal. Putin loves his proxies: He employed this tactic in the ill-fated 2018 attack on U.S. forces in Syria.
Still, on the credibility point, Biden had yet more damage to do.
Immediately following their Ukraine exchange, Holt transitioned to the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. Remember, that withdrawal saw hundreds of Americans abandoned to the Taliban. The Biden administration claims it had no choice but to leave on the Taliban’s deadline, but that’s a lie. The British and French wanted to extend the evacuation timeline, but Biden was adamant about keeping the Taliban happy. Even, that is, as multiple of the Taliban’s checkpoints outside Kabul airport miraculously allowed an ISIS suicide bomber to kill 13 Americans and nearly 200 innocent Afghans.
Of course, introspection not being his strong suit, Biden once again insisted any criticism of the withdrawal is misguided. But he knows how damaging it was to his personal credibility and that of the U.S. as a reliable ally.
It’s extraordinary, then, that Biden seems so willing to reinforce his happy impotence in face of Putin. A far more dangerous adversary than the Taliban. The risk is Putin’s simple conclusion. Namely, that even if he uses Americans as hostages in Ukraine, Putin can expect Biden to disavow all responsibility for what follows.
Not exactly a presidential doctrine for the ages.
Watch the relevant exchange by clicking the center of the video below.
