US, NATO must never give in to Russia’s absurd demands

Vladimir Putin
Pavel Bednyakov/SPUTNIK/AFP through Getty Pictures

If nothing else, the Kremlin has satisfied the Biden administration that it’s going to invade Ukraine. Kudos to Crew Joe for refusing to blink.

CNN studies that President Joe Biden on Thursday warned his Ukrainian counterpart that Washington believes a Russian invasion is a digital certainty as soon as the bottom freezes and Kyiv ought to “put together for influence.”

This, after Moscow demanded arduous guarantees that NATO would by no means admit Ukraine and that the alliance pull all its forces from Jap Europe, and received a tough “no” — in writing.

“NATO’s door is open, stays open and that's our dedication,” defined Secretary of State Antony Blinken. NATO Secretary Basic Jens Stoltenberg chimed in: “We can't and won't compromise on the ideas on which the safety of our alliance, and safety in Europe and North America, relaxation.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov whined, “No readiness to take our issues into consideration was demonstrated.” In fact, as a result of the calls for have been absurd, including to asking NATO to develop into an utter joke.

Briefly, it appears like Moscow merely wished a pretext to invade, not actual negotiations. (Blinken says the US letter “units out a critical diplomatic path ahead ought to Russia select it.”)

Putin has argued that Russia’s army buildup on the Ukraine border is in response to aggression from the US and its European allies.

Bloomberg through Getty Pictures

So Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin has 100,000 troops lined as much as invade, whereas NATO rushes forces to the area and assist to Ukraine. The West can also be drawing up lists of all of the ache it's going to inflict on Russia, together with belatedly stopping the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

The ball’s in Putin’s courtroom. Possibly he’ll determine one thing the West is keen to grant, and name it a win. He might go forward, guessing that the alliance will fracture if it has to struggle. (Germany’s new authorities is very more likely to flip tail.)

However up to now, at the very least, Biden isn’t blinking. We now have our gripes about how he’s dealt with Russia ’til now, however at the very least he’s refusing to let America be bullied.