Biden's Swan Song - "Let's Escalate"

Why does America have such a long period (2 months) before the winner of an election takes over as the President? No other democracy has such a ridiculously long transition period. This could be dismissed as an American quirk, except when you see what has happened in the Ukraine war since Trump won.

 

Biden gave Ukraine the “green light for Ukraine to strike Russia with US-made long-range missiles”. This is very dangerous for obvious reasons. How would Russia respond if an American missile launched by Ukraine hit deep inside Russia? Will UK and France follow (or be forced to follow) the American policy and authorize Ukraine to use their missiles to hit inside Russia? Would Russia decide to strike a European manufacturer of missiles in such a scenario? Would NATO then be forced to declare war on Russia? Would nukes come into play?

 

You’d think Biden’s team would cite a good reason why they have set things off on such a dangerous and unpredictable trajectory when he is on his way out. But no. Check out the US government spokesman’s “explanation”:

“(Biden was) elected to a four year-term, not a term of three years and 10 months… We will use every day of our term to pursue policy interests that we believe are in the interests of the American people. If the incoming administration wants to take a different view, that is, of course, their right to do so.”

Or as Andrew Sullivan puts it:

“There was no speech to the nation; no debate in the Senate; just a quiet demonstration of unilateral presidential fuck-you power. You know: the kind we’ve long worried about with Donald Trump.”

But hey, Biden wasn’t elected for 3 years, 10 months, so he will do whatever he likes right until the day Trump takes power.

 

Putin declared that Russia had the right to hit countries that “permit their weapons to be used against Russian targets”. Why? Because the kinds of missiles Biden has authorized can only be used with “the direct involvement of military specialists of the countries producing such weapons”. To drive home that point, Russia fired a ballistic missile at a Ukrainian military site. To signal what? That missile can fly farther, anywhere in Europe. And it can carry nuclear weapons.

 

Remember how the Americans went ballistic in 1962 when the Soviets started shipping missiles to Cuba? Too close to America was the concern. Apparently Biden doesn’t know history or is too senile to remember it. Nor can he analyze:

“Ask yourself: if Russia were found to have had its own troops assemble a long-range missile and help launch it into the United States, do you think a US president would feel able to let it slide?”

 

But let’s be optimistic and assume for a minute that this war doesn’t spiral out of control, despite Biden’s best efforts to escalate things on his way out. How would the war proceed once Trump comes to power?

 

It doesn’t seem likely that Trump with his “why should America spend for others unless there is a tangible risk or benefit” approach will want to prolong the war. Plus, the man would love to be the one who ended a war and brought peace. But then again, Trump is always unpredictable.