Biden and Zelensky celebrate their 1st anniversary
Amid air sirens blaring but no incoming bombs or people seeking shelter, Biden and Zelensky strolled the streets of Kyiv on Monday morning, celebrating their first anniversary. Maybe the Russian army slept in. Maybe they were concentrating on Donbas. Maybe Biden’s call to Putin of his secret visit called off the attack. Even Vlad the Mad knows Donbas is not worth World War III.
Oh yes. Biden told Putin he was going to Kyiv before telling the American people. Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser to the president, told reporters, “We did notify the Russians that President Biden would be traveling to Kyiv. We did some hours before his departure for deconfliction purposes.”
Deconfliction purposes? Putin was protecting Biden better than the Secret Service, and why not? Biden’s dog never bit Putin.
Biden got the headlines he wanted. The New York Times gave him, “Biden Visits Kyiv, Ukraine's Embattled Capital, as Air-Raid Siren Sounds.”
It was MacArthur returning to the Philippines, except for the part where he did not give the Japs a heads up so they wouldn’t bomb him by accident.
The purpose of Biden’s trip was a photo op for Friday’s first anniversary of Russia’s invasion. Apparently no one in the White House knows how a calendar works. But they can still churn out emotional appeals. Biden said, “One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands.”
Lemonade stands everywhere
Crackerjack bands fill the air
And there you are
Happy landing on a chocolate bar
The press hailed him as the conquering hero. Eliot A. Cohen of The Atlantic wrote, “Biden Just Destroyed Putin's Last Hope.” Cohen said the visit was a gut punch to the Russian leader. Well, at least Biden gave him a heads up.
National Review said, “Biden's Secret Trip to Kyiv Took Guts.”
Not really. President Trump going to the DMZ to meet Kim Jong Un — not sure if he would even show up — took guts. This was a trip to Disney World by comparison.
David Rothkopf of The Daily Beast got to to Biden’s and Zelensky’s real enemy, writing, “Biden's Trip to Kyiv is the Ultimate Humiliation for Putin—and Trump.”
It’s always about Trump. His election shook the Establishment like the San Francisco earthquake. More than six years later, they are still sifting through the rubble.
The Babylon Bee stung press accounts by saying, “President Biden paid a visit to Ukraine to reaffirm America's unwavering commitment to the country's democracy, sovereignty, and the military-industrial complex while also picking up a few things Hunter asked about, including his paycheck.”
This war is real, it just isn’t in Kyiv. The siren for Biden was fake, but people really are dying. Six days ago, the New York Post reported, “While Ukraine has been boasting about taking out massive numbers of Russian soldiers — including a record day for casualties last week — Kyiv has also been losing a staggering number of its own troops.
“Western intelligence sources estimate that each side has suffered approximately 150,000 casualties since Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.”
To put that in perspective, the USA suffered 20,000 casualties in 20 years of war in Afghanistan. This war also has created 8 million Ukraine refugees. That’s 20% of the the nation’s population displaced.
Real leaders would stop the carnage. Yet there is no urgency on either side to settle this conflict. NATO countries are treating Ukraine — which was supposed be a post-USSR neutral buffer — as if Ukraine were a member. Europe hasn’t had a good war since the Balkan wars in the 1990s. This one is not about liberty but about making money. War profits are so high, Halliburton may get back in the game.
CNN reported, “Ukraine is burning through ammunition faster than the U.S. and NATO can produce it. Inside the Pentagon’s plan to close the gap.”
The Pentagon’s plan is to buy more ammo. That means more campaign donations for supporters of the war and better post-military employment opportunities when the generals retire.
Zelensky is a head case now.
The power to get NATO nations to jump through his hoops has gone to his head. He is challenging Chairman Xi in the woe begotten belief that Xi won’t nuke him. A man who enslaves a million of his own people would not hesitate into turning Ukraine into a radioactive wasteland.
I see little difference between Zelensky and the megalomaniac Putin. Both are insulated from the consequences of their actions. Life is good in Moscow — and Kyiv too. Vice reported, “How the Ukrainian Rave Scene Is Surviving the War.”
The story said, “Last summer, his label Polygon and two other organizations, SVYST en Grvgrv, launched the first electronic music festival since pre-invasion times, Brudniy Pes (Dirty Dog). The festival – which featured many experimental artists –had to be held during the day, given the 11PM curfew that’s been enforced in the city since the start of the war. It lasted two days and all proceedings (about €2,500) were donated to the army.”
That’s nice. They raised €2,500. At that rate, they will need 40 million raves to equal the $100 billion we gave Ukraine’s army.
But Mitch McConnell has declared, “Defending Ukraine is the most important thing in the world.” Not closing our borders. Not stopping terrorists. Not stopping fentanyl. Not balancing our budget. Not fighting inflation. Not even cleaning up East Palestine, Ohio. No, the most important thing in the world to McConnell and the Republicans on the Senate who support him is Ukraine. I wonder how many of their sons and daughters are Hunter Biden-ing over there.
Maybe McConnell and his supporters would feel more comfortable in the Verkhovna Rada — aka the Supreme Council of Ukraine.
Maybe half the country agrees with McConnell and his pack of RINOs. AP’s report on its own poll said, “48% say they favor the U.S. providing weapons to Ukraine, with 29% opposed and 22% saying they’re neither in favor nor opposed. In May 2022, less than three months into the war, 60% of U.S. adults said they were in favor of sending Ukraine weapons.” It reminds me of Bob Hope’s joke to the troops on one of his USO Christmas tours: The American people are with you, 50% of the way.
This war is a pissing match between a 70-year-old dictator, an 80-year-old crook and a short guy with a green T-shirt fetish. Each is trying to prove his manhood, but if you combine the three of them, you might get the testosterone level of a 12-year-old girl. They would rather have a nuclear war than back down. That isn’t being a man. That is adolescence.
Anne Applebaum, the liberal hawk, wrote in The Atlantic, “Biden’s visit to Kyiv is intended to offer a bracing contrast, and a different message: If the U.S. president is willing to take this personal risk, if the U.S. government is willing to invest this effort, then time is not on Russia’s side after all. He is putting everyone on notice, including the defense ministries and the defense industries, that the paradigm has shifted and the story has changed. The old normal is not coming back.”
Of course, Biden was at no risk. We just went over that.
And Putin has read the newspapers. He knows what happened in Afghanistan. He figures Biden is being tough for re-election, but Putin realizes Biden will have more flexibility in his second term.
8 million Ukrainians lost their homes — and hundreds of thousands on both sides are dead or severely wounded. There is no end in sight for a fruitless fight among three fruit flies.
But the air raid siren was a nice touch. For a moment there, it was almost as if there were a possibility that Zelensky was in peril just like people he was elected to serve.
Soon you'll be hearing about a corkscrew landing and how he had to run to avoid sniper fire.
The poll didn’t list my first choice - Biden should next go to hell, before he has more time to take the rest of us with him.