Russia begins moving troops into eastern Ukraine

[Dill]

(02-25-2022, 12:12 AM)Bengalzona Wrote: As far as Biden, I'm not a fan. He has been sort of mediocre as a POTUS, IMO. But while he has not been especially innovative with this Ukraine situation, I'm not exactly sure what his critics expected him to do here. I'd like to hear what people feel he could have done to avoid this, because I'm not seeing it.

Hey B! I don't see anything Biden could have done to prevent Putin's invasion. 

I will say, though, that Biden's response so far has been competent, good even. 

One thing that especially impressed me is the way he and his FP team immediately began countering Russian propaganda by "predicting" Putin's claims and potential false-flag pretexts. "We're going to be hearing that the Ukrainians are attacking ethnic Russians . . . etc." Including prepared film for news distribution.

Part of that effort was publicizing US intel and assessments, which began another baseline for judging/demonstrating how Putin's actions conflict with his rhetoric. (Remember, he was saying there was no intent to invade a few weeks ago.)

Follow that with his firm statements regarding a "Western" response, which would include serious sanctions. And he has made good on that.

Finally, I approve of the way that he has stepped into the leadership position in the world response to the invasion. He's rallied NATO. And he has so far done a good job of rallying world opinion against Putin. Even Kazahkstan has refused Putin's request to send troops and supplies to help out the invasion. 

So I don't buy the Fox/Newsmax assessment that Biden is "weak" and Putin is a genius "playing three-dimensional chess." LOL