Damn Their Dithering. Grandpa Dementia Leads From Behind.

I know it is probably too much to ask for the administration that left Americans stranded in Afghanistan to actually muster the moral courage to be aggressive on behalf of Ukraine, but I am disappointed.

Eli Lake @EliLake

Apparently the NSC has debated whether giving real time intel to Ukraine would make the US a co-belligerent under international law. Who cares? Putin doesn’t care about international law. And Putin has made clear the sanctions Europe and the US just imposed are an act of war.

Ukraine needs real-time intelligence and the Biden Administration is worried Russia might see us as “cobelligerent.” Really? We are currently co-belligerent with Russia by not helping Ukraine.

Oh, it is not just intelligence. The Biden Administration is also worried that arming Ukraine could be viewed as co-belligerence. But we need some perspective on all of this.

This is the same Biden Administration that shared our intelligence on Ukraine with the Chinese Communists who then gave it all to the Russians.

This is also the same Biden Administration that is ending an investigation into Chinese spying among academics in the United States because they’re afraid of hurting people’s feelings.

The leader of the free world needs to be decisive and support freedom. Ukraine is fighting for its life. Europe has stepped up. For God’s sake, the Swedish are supplying arms to Ukraine while Joe Biden vacations in Delaware and dithers.

Even now, the Biden Administration will not restore American energy independence, but imports Russian oil. After refusing to ban Russia from SWIFT and giving Europe a veto over the matter, Biden finally prohibited Russia from the SWIFT banking system, but went out of his way to make clear the ban would not apply to energy related transaction.

Javier Blas @JavierBlas

UPDATED 3: The White House, in call with reporters tonight, made very clear that it's actively making sure that the SWIFT move against Russia does NOT impact energy payments, using two potential paths | #OOTT #ONGT #Ukraine The below is from Biden administration senior official

Biden is even allowing Russia to export wood and uranium to prop up the Russian economy. White House Press Secretary Jenn Psaki announced over the weekend that we will do nothing to harm Russia’s energy flow because Biden has no intention of ever harnessing American energy as a national security issue. Instead, he wants wind and solar everything.

Joe Biden’s policies are literally causing Americans to fund Russia’s war against Ukraine. We import over 500,000 barrels of Russian oil a day just to avoid being energy self-sufficient. The money for the Russian oil goes back to Putin.

This is a moral cowardice.

Only now, as the sun rises, is the word coming that maybe, just maybe we will give some weapons to Ukraine’s President. It resembles the Clinton Administration handing policy over to all the president’s lawyers instead of Bill Clinton shaping the policy that guided the lawyers. That led to 9/11.

We should all be embarrassed. Germany has stepped up. Italy has stepped up. Slovakia has stepped up. Sweden has stepped up. And the leader of the free world hid in Delaware while his National Security Council worried the Russians might get mad at us.

Josh Kraushaar @HotlineJosh

"Surprised by the unusually rapid European decision, the White House scrambled over the weekend to catch up in drafting its own related measures, according to one American and one European official."

washingtonpost.comHistoric sanctions on Russia had roots in emotional appeal from ZelenskyA video call by the Ukrainian wartime leader prompted jaded European leaders to act.

This all has echos to me of The White Council wherein the Wizard Saruman the White tied up everybody in committee meetings and dissuaded everyone from acting against evil until it was almost too strong to fight.

A new world order is rising and the Biden Administration would prefer it if others led. Grandpa Dementia is too slow and his team is too full of progressives with historic animus to the American leadership role. The White House is going to abdicate our role in the world to others whose preferences will wind up harming us long-term.

Jake Sullivan and Biden have twisted US policy in knots letting the Russians get a head start in rebooting the Russian Empire. Damn them all and I hope they are wiped out at the ballot box.

Progressives will accuse me of being anti-American to criticize Joe Biden as they spin that he led. But it is moral cowardice and anti-American to lead from behind as the Biden Administration is doing. Shame on them.