Putin is said to be furious about Western sanctions and intel officials fear he may target Ukrainian civilians as revenge

[Callen]

There is good reason to believe this ban on Russian oil is coming. But such a ban will have serious repercussions on the American economy. The Biden administration is trying to look before it leaps.

They also need to get the others on board, no sense going there if no one else is. Biden has navigated this brilliantly so far. He has gotten NATO and the EU, indeed most of the free world, to act together rather than make this like an American/Russian thing.

 

[Ishm]

In a brief moment of light hearted relief, the Ukraine tax man has issued a statement reassuring Ukraine citizens that the won't need to declare the value of captured Russian tanks on their tax returns. Apparently he said they won't exceed the min value of $8000 required to meet the reporting limit

 

[StillServing]

Biden has navigated this brilliantly so far. He has gotten NATO and the EU, indeed most of the free world, to act together rather than make this like an American/Russian thing.

Again, it is true that the world has largely come together. Can you please explain how this has been due to actions that President Biden and his administration has undertook? Prior to the invasion, it was not President Biden himself that traveled to Europe to gain consensus. He sent his Vice President whose statements showed how unserious the administration was. This, of course, is after President Biden confused the entire issue as he seemed to signal that a "little incursion" would be somehow different than a full-out invasion as we have now.

This administration has been largely disinterested in doing anything to avert the prospect of war in Ukraine. This was not a sudden build up of power. Russia has had 100,000 troops arrayed along the Ukrainian border since March 31st of 2021. President Biden had nearly an entire year to engage in diplomacy and/or provide Ukraine with the ability to better defend against this threat. What was done?

You are sure to characterize President Biden's work as "brilliant"? Throw a dog a bone here. How is what he has done been brilliant?

 

[Ishm]

Again, it is true that the world has largely come together. Can you please explain how this has been due to actions that President Biden and his administration has undertook? Prior to the invasion, it was not President Biden himself that traveled to Europe to gain consensus. He sent his Vice President whose statements showed how unserious the administration was. This, of course, is after President Biden confused the entire issue as he seemed to signal that a "little incursion" would be somehow different than a full-out invasion as we have now.

This administration has been largely disinterested in doing anything to avert the prospect of war in Ukraine. This was not a sudden build up of power. Russia has had 100,000 troops arrayed along the Ukrainian border since March 31st of 2021. President Biden had nearly an entire year to engage in diplomacy and/or provide Ukraine with the ability to better defend against this threat. What was done?

You are sure to characterize President Biden's work as "brilliant"? Throw a dog a bone here. How is what he has done been brilliant?

Whether or not Biden has taken the lead role over the Ukraine war, the western world is expressing a unity that would never have occurred under Trump, because he had proved himself to be fickle and untrustworthy. Bidens administration have managed to rebuild that trust in a very short time span, which has at least significantly aided the process of unity, even of not completely lead it.

Biden may not be a genius leader, but at least he hasn't continued Trumps path of international isolationism, and revelled in offending long trusted partners to create self glorifying headlines at home..

 

[StillServing]

Whether or not Biden has taken the lead role over the Ukraine war, the western world is expressing a unity that would never have occurred under Trump, because he had proved himself to be fickle and untrustworthy. Bidens administration have managed to rebuild that trust in a very short time span, which has at least significantly aided the process of unity, even of not completely lead it.

Biden may not be a genius leader, but at least he hasn't continued Trumps path of international isolationism, and revelled in offending long trusted partners to create self glorifying headlines at home..

And a contrast to President Trump is germane to this conversation how? I asked for an explanation with concrete evidence of President Biden's handling of the situation as "brilliant" and your response is that President Biden isn't President Trump. Surely it is possible to conduct critical thinking without simply resorting to a rendition of "orange man bad", no?

I didn't offer a comparison or offer that President Trump would have done better. Any discussion in that vein--regardless from which side of the political spectrum--in these circumstances is sophomoric. The discussion I'm interested in is looking at what our nation's leaders are doing and assessing what they have achieved in a dispassionate and objective manner.

 

[Ishm]

And a contrast to President Trump is germane to this conversation how? I asked for an explanation with concrete evidence of President Biden's handling of the situation as "brilliant" and your response is that President Biden isn't President Trump. Surely it is possible to conduct critical thinking without simply resorting to a rendition of "orange man bad", no?

I didn't offer a comparison or offer that President Trump would have done better. Any discussion in that vein--regardless from which side of the political spectrum--in these circumstances is sophomoric. The discussion I'm interested in is looking at what our nation's leaders are doing and assessing what they have achieved in a dispassionate and objective manner.

Comprehension issues? I just explained how Biden and his team quickly repaired the damage to critically important relationships and rebuilt trust in the US after inheriting a lot of damage from the prior guy. Did I use too many big words or something??

 

[StillServing]

Comprehension issues? I just explained how Biden and his team quickly repaired the damage to critically important relationships and rebuilt trust in the US after inheriting a lot of damage from the prior guy. Did I use too many big words or something??

Actually, you didn't.

Whether or not Biden has taken the lead role over the Ukraine war, the western world is expressing a unity that would never have occurred under Trump, because he had proved himself to be fickle and untrustworthy. Bidens administration have managed to rebuild that trust in a very short time span, which has at least significantly aided the process of unity, even of not completely lead it.

Biden may not be a genius leader, but at least he hasn't continued Trumps path of international isolationism, and revelled in offending long trusted partners to create self glorifying headlines at home

In your above post, you offer as evidence that world opinion has become unified due to President Biden--not due to his leadership as you defer on the issue (in red)--but due to the very fact that he is not President Trump (in blue).

Yet, the text in green is incorrect. Prior to the invasion, President Biden announced several times and seemed to be content with the fact that world opinion was split--most notedly that of NATO. The world only began to unify with the determined stance of President Zelensky after the invasion. .

 

[Rogue Valley]

What you haven't seen is American leadership.

What you are ignoring is all the work with Europe that the Biden admin was doing behind the scenes.

You actually think Germany just miraculously did a flip-flop overnight?

But I do fault Biden for not pushing lethal weapons into Ukraine months ago.

But I suspect your greatest comprehension problem is your "conservative' leaning.

 

[StillServing]

What you are ignoring is all the work with Europe that the Biden admin was doing behind the scenes.

You actually think Germany just miraculously did a flip-flop overnight?

But I do fault Biden for not pushing lethal weapons into Ukraine months ago.

But I suspect your greatest comprehension problem is your "conservative' leaning.

Where is the evidence of "all of the work"?

Obviously, we would not be privy to such diplomatic work that is done on the phones. But it is foolhardy to rely upon that which we cannot see to justify calling President Biden's navigation of this issue as "brilliant."

This certainly is overreaching when we look at the overt moves that the administration has made. Despite a Russian build up of nearly a year, the administration made very little public statements on the matter and did even less to prepare Ukraine with weapons and supplies to weather such an assault. President Biden did not go himself to Europe but sent Vice President Harris whose statements when meeting with the Europeans prior to the invasion can only be objectively deemed as confusing--others may call her words incoherent. At the same time, President Biden's own words that made it seem that a minor incursion into Ukraine might be acceptable did nothing to deter Putin. Speaking of deterrence, both Vice President Harris and Secretary Blinken on multiple occasions stated that the initial sanctions were meant to deter aggression on the behalf of Russia. Yet, President Biden came out after the invasion and clearly said that "no one" thought that the sanctions would be a deterrence. If such high level statements cannot be coordinated within the administration on such a basic concept as the role of sanctions, why should anyone believe that the administration is so brilliantly negotiating behind the scenes?

But, there are negotiations elsewhere going on--with Iran in which at the same time that the Administration states that it hopes to isolate Russia, we are actually using Russia as intermediaries with Iran. This shows a schizophrenic approach to Russia. On one hand, we want to isolate and can not trust. On the other, we see Russia as an impartial actor with whom we trust to negotiate such weighty issues as nuclear proliferation with a rogue state.

But even here, we find that these behind the scenes negotiations certainly do not show any sort of "brilliance". on behalf of President Biden's diplomatic team. Mikhail Ulyanov who is one of the negotiators between Iran and the US recently stated that Iran has "got much more than it expected." Yeah...brilliance at work.

These are all facts that certainly does not reinforce that Germany, Switzerland, Sweden or other nations' moves and efforts have been do to the "brilliant" behind-the-scenes of the US administration. A far more logical explanation is that Russia's bold invasion of Ukraine--far more sweeping than what many thought--shook European leaders into realizing just how belligerent Putin really is. This combined with the bold chastisement of other European leaders such as what Poland's Prime Minister dealt to Germany the day before Germany changed its attitude. There are no signs that this is due to the "brilliant" diplomatic skills that our own administration has exhibited.

 

[StillServing]

There is good reason to believe this ban on Russian oil is coming. But such a ban will have serious repercussions on the American economy. The Biden administration is trying to look before it leaps.

Perhaps. Although I think that banning Russian oil is kinda like ripping off a bandaid (a really, really big and really, really painful bandaid.)

Right now, we are seeing $6-7 gasoline prices. As the third round of negotiations yesterday went no where and Russia currently making only minor, incremental progress in advancing into Ukraine we easily can see this go one for several weeks if not months. Perhaps the best move is to go for economic decapitation of the Russian economy. Yes, it will hurt a bunch. (I just paid $100 to fill up my vehicle--and didn't actually get it to full). But I fear that without taking Russia's main form of income away, Putin can continue to survive--even if his people are facing hardship.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Where is the evidence of "all of the work"?

I suggest you peruse news reports on the subject beginning when the world (via MAXAR Technologies) became aware of tens of thousand of troops on Ukraine's border.

Whatever Biden did in the invasion runup was lightyears better than watching Trump grovel.

Trump praises Putin's 'genius' as GOP fissures grow on Ukraine crisis

Republican leaders, political candidates and prominent conservatives are all over the place as the Russian leader sends in troops.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[StillServing]

Whatever Biden did in the invasion runup was lightyears better than watching Trump grovel.

Of course. Because this becomes the catch-all now for any subject. There will become a day when people realize that just because a person is not President Trump, it is possible for them to be fallible.