It would appear that Putin thinks Biden will let him do whatever he wants…..

One increasing gets the impression that Russian President Putin thinks he has a soft American President that is ‘afraid’ to project  military power…

While Joe Biden is trying to talk his way with Putin…

He is advertised as MORE worried about China….

Visiosn’s  of World War II come to mind with America dealing a ‘two front’ situation….

It would appear that Putin feels this could be his chance  go ‘for it’ in running over part of the Ukraine and even trying to roll into other ex-Soviet Union states in certain ways…

Leaders in those ex-Soviet states HAVE to be worried…..

(Some of those state’s still Russian support though)

Biden’s Afghan evacuation seems to be defining him to other world leaders……

And Putin is testing a President weak at home and apparent  pacifist looking over his shoulder to the Far East  …..

No one expected much progress from this past week’s diplomatic marathon to defuse the security crisis Russia has ignited in Eastern Europe by surrounding Ukraine on three sides with 100,000 troops and then, by the White House’s accounting, sending in saboteurs to create a pretext for invasion.

But as the Biden administration and NATO conduct tabletop simulations about how the next few months could unfold, they are increasingly wary of another set of options for President Vladimir V. Putin, steps that are more far-reaching than simply rolling his troops and armor over Ukraine’s border.

Mr. Putin wants to extend Russia’s sphere of influence to Eastern Europe and secure written commitments that NATO will never again enlarge. If he is frustrated in reaching that goal, some of his aides suggested on the sidelines of the negotiations last week, then he would pursue Russia’s security interests with results that would be felt acutely in Europe and the United States.

There were hints, never quite spelled out, that nuclear weapons could be shifted to places — perhaps not far from the United States coastline — that would reduce warning times after a launch to as little as five minutes, potentially igniting a confrontation with echoes of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis….

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It could all be bluster, part of a Kremlin campaign of intimidation, and a way of reminding President Biden that while he wants to focus American attention on competing and dealing with China, Mr. Putin is still capable of causing enormous disruption…

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“Russia’s response will be asymmetrical, fast and tough,” Mr. Putin said last April, referring to the kinds of unconventional military action that Russia could take if adversaries threatened “our fundamental security interests.”

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The Kremlin has noted that Mr. Biden sees China, not Russia, as America’s most complex, long-term challenger — an economic, military and technological competitor that plays in a different league from Russia. Yet forcing the United States to increase its investment in a confrontation with Russia, analysts say, would undermine Mr. Biden’s greater strategic goal.

“The United States, objectively, does not want to increase its military presence in Europe,” said Mr. Suslov, the analyst. “This would be done at the cost of containing China.”….

More….

Note…

The Russian’s have already begun hacking efforts in the Ukraine which suggest that this efforts could be turned on against ANYPLACE on the planet while countries do basically nothing but try to patch things up….