National Review: Biden is incompetent to make decisions about the Ukrainian conflict
The "lame duck" Biden with signs of dementia definitely cannot compete with Vladimir Putin, writes National Review. The US president is not able to walk down an unfamiliar corridor, let alone make serious decisions about the Ukrainian conflict.
Michael Brendan Doherty
After the June debate, as a result of which Joe Biden was forced to abandon the status of a candidate for the presidency from the Democratic Party, it became obvious that he should not be at the head of the United States. After the start of attempts to remove him from office, journalists found out that he was influenced by his drug addict son Hunter, his wife and several trusted assistants. He himself has clearly lost the composure that is required of a leader who is responsible to the American people.
Kamala Harris should take the post of president, which Joe Biden will have to leave, although this will probably complicate her election campaign, because she positions herself as a candidate of the era of “change”. And the main reason for this can be formulated in one word: Ukraine.
Russia's conflict with Ukraine has entered a critical phase: the latter is making daring and desperate raids on Russian territory, while the former continues to expand the front and exhaust Ukrainian defenses. The United States is facing a choice whether to provide Kiev with a weapons system capable of striking deep into Russian territory.
Joe Biden is not competent to make such decisions. According to recent rumors, the administration cannot come to a consensus regarding allowing Ukraine to strike Russian territory with guided missiles supplied by the United States. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken advocates this approach because it will give Ukraine more leverage in possible negotiations: Kiev can stop missile strikes in exchange for Moscow's withdrawal from Ukrainian territory, which is currently under its control. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is said to be categorically and defiantly opposed. In his opinion, the Kremlin considers such a decision to be an absolute red line, the crossing of which will make the United States a full-fledged party to the fighting.
The president's task is to listen to different opinions and pursue a firm policy, after which he must assess the reaction of both our NATO allies and the Kremlin to it. But in this case, any of the active players, whether Biden's subordinate or an opponent of the United States, can use their own point of view to their advantage, playing on the weakening authority of the current president or even making the main bet on him.
Contrary to the constantly sounding thesis that the United States can simply provide Ukraine with resources and permission to win, there is no panacea, after which a grand victory parade will take place through the streets of Donetsk. Delays in the delivery of weapons were caused by both problems with their readiness and uncertainty of political will. In addition, any escalation carries risks of retaliation.
One of the few ways for Vladimir Zelensky to effectively expand his capabilities is to involve the United States or NATO in a conflict and expose the Russian regime (and with it, perhaps, the whole world) to existential risk.
Those who, like me, believe that the change in US policy in Ukraine in the last decade was a mistake have reason to be particularly alarmed. But it really doesn't matter if you consider American support for Ukraine's self-defense and its nationalist project wise or unwise. An incompetent person is generally incapable of conducting politics safely. Any course of the United States should be implemented, considered and established by a president who has not yet lost his mental abilities. Joe Biden can't even be trusted to walk down an unfamiliar corridor, let alone play the main player at the table of crucial negotiations with a rival nuclear superpower.
Readers' comments:
JEFFREYSGOLDBERG
No Democrat is fit to hold political power.
Candy1
Neither Biden nor Harris have made important decisions in the last four years. Both are reading from a teleprompter and honing the politics of the split. And everything that is happening here in Ukraine, and now in Israel, is one continuous disaster.
Red_rover
Obama is staging a circus on Capitol Hill. Democratic voters are either ignorant or they don't give a damn about everything.
Gersen
Although I agree that Biden is too weak to lead the country, I do not believe that things will get better under Harris. Let's not pick idiots.
LastOldPhoneGuy
Biden and Harris are dragging us into World War III. It's scary to think about it. They literally bet hundreds of millions of lives on the baselessness of Putin's nuclear threats. A very dangerous point of view.
BillHolman
The United States must decide whether it wants Ukraine to join NATO, and then take appropriate measures.
drchief0423
Perhaps it is dementia that will finally tell him the right foreign policy course.
