….Analysis…
It’s not like the Russian President doesn’t know American President Biden…
He does…
The then Vice President Biden has met with the guy…
That was before something those in the media seems to have forgotten….
The pullout from Afghanistan…..
I’m just a dog…
But an ex-KGB Colonel turned President of a nuclear capable country that is NOT in the top ten economic powerhouse ‘s on the planet is always gonna be looking for a way to flex and has been ….
Which has had the US and NATO flexing back….
With the media and Putin’s people telling him that the American President packed up and left Afghanistan and is worried about China , NOT Russia?
This could be a good time to angle getting the old Soviet Union thing back?
So far?
Putin is correct…
President Joe Biden is probably NOT gonna send a plane load of America troop’s anywhere off of American soil in harms way….
That may last for Biden’s time in office…
Or it may not….
But the American President IS b being very smart…
The Russian economy is NOT something the Russian President can crow about…
While the country itself has HUGE energy and other asset’s buried in it’s ground …
It has unable to leverage much of it into wealth….
And…
The world IS trying to move away from fossil fuel’s which Russia has sitting in the ground….
Biden has advised Putin that grab for the Ukraine would result in the West moving t0 cripple the Russian President at home thru sanctions on it’s economic well being….
This is something the Russian President has to think twice and more about….
Unhappy Russian’s will not be a easy time for even a Russian President…
We will see what Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin decides to do….
President Biden adds to his ‘dealing’ with an American Senator?
‘Dealing’ with a Russian President….
Russia has tens of thousands of troops sitting across from the Ukraine
NY Times map
The countdown as per the Washington Post…..
July 12: Putin’s manifesto
Putin prepared the ground for possible renewed aggression against Ukraine in a long essay, “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” claiming that Russia and Ukraine were “one people — a single whole.” He argued that Ukrainian sovereignty was “possible only in partnership with Russia.” And he accused the West of using Ukraine as an aggressive “anti-Russia project,” akin to “the use of weapons of mass destruction against us.”
Aug. 31: Afghanistan chaos
The fumbled U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was taken by the Kremlin as a telling sign of American decline, signaling that Washington was unlikely soon to commit forces in distant places.
Sept. 10: Zapad drills
Russia held its massive Zapad 2021 military exercises, demonstrating a formidable fighting force after years of modernization. The exercises came as Russia was increasingly irritated by NATO flights and naval patrols on its western border.
Oct. 6: Espionage allegations
NATO announced the expulsion of eight diplomats in Russia’s NATO mission for alleged spying, and Russia swiftly suspended its NATO mission and closed NATO’s Moscow office. In late October, Ukraine for the first time used a Turkish Bayraktar drone in its war against Russian-backed separatists in the country’s east. By the end of the month, Russia had resumed its military buildup near Ukraine, sparking new fears of a massive invasion.
Nov. 18: Russia’s ‘red lines’
Putin accused the West of ignoring “our warnings about red lines,” referring to Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO. He said Russia’s hard-line policies were working. “Our recent warnings have been heard and the effect is noticeable. Tensions have risen,” he said. He added that Russia should maintain the tensions “as long as possible.”
Nov. 30: NATO defenses
Putin complained about NATO’s missile-defense system in Romania and the alliance’s plans for a similar network in Poland. Putin warned that Moscow would never accept the deployment of missile systems in Ukraine…..
More trouble for the Russian President in old Soviet Union countries….
Although Putin clings to Soviet nostalgia — and to a self-drawn map of Moscow’s “sphere of influence” that covers much of the former empire — the countries surrounding Russia have other ideas. The latest example is sweeping anti-government protests in Kazakhstan that have rattled a political system entrenched for three decades and brought in Russian-led forces to try to keep a lid on the unrest.
Putin has long accused the West of trying to curtail Moscow’s reach. Now, he is portraying Russia as more threatened than ever and is demanding guarantees from the United States and NATO that the military alliance will stay out of what he considers the Kremlin’s turf, and he has called for the removal of NATO infrastructure installed in Eastern Europe after 1997….
…
From Ukraine to Georgia to Armenia to Belarus to Kazakhstan, a popular revolt has at some point demanded the end of each country’s Soviet-era legacy and leadership. And the challenge to authoritarian regimes in Putin’s backyard is seen by the Kremlin as a challenge to him and the system he has installed in Moscow.
The protests in Kazakhstan have proved to be a pivotal moment. Putin could not risk having the unrest bring in a new government unfavorable to Moscow, analysts say. So he opted to intervene, deploying troops as part of a Russian-led regional military alliance to help quell the protests. Propping up Kazakhstan’s regime also appears to be a longer-term play for Putin: to build even deeper loyalty to Moscow and to curb the influence of China’s growing investments and the West’s overtures for closer ties….
Update…
NATO Rejects Russian Demand
NATO’s secretary-general has ruled out creating “second-class” members of the military alliance to appease Moscow, ahead of a week of high-stakes diplomacy between the Kremlin and western powers that aims to avoid a feared Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Financial Timesreports.
image…WGN9