With his party decisively beat at the polls, the rejected president is gambling with regional security to preserve his ‘legacy’ and to saddle the incoming president, who wants to end the war, with a major new crisis, writes Joe Lauria.
U.S. President Joe Biden with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev on Feb. 20, 2023. (White House, Adam Schultz, CC BY-ND 2.0)
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
As a parting shot to incoming U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the defeated Joe Biden has defied the Pentagon by risking European and U.S. security with his decision announced Sunday to allow Ukraine to fire U.S. long-range missiles into Russian territory.
Just two months ago, in September, Biden had bowed to the realists in the Pentagon to oppose allowing long-range British Storm Shadow missiles from being fired by Ukraine deep into Russia out of fear it would lead to a direct NATO-Russia military confrontation with all that that entails.
Putin warned at the time because British soldiers on the ground in Ukraine would actually launch the British missiles into Russia with U.S. geostrategic support, it “will mean that NATO countries — the United States and European countries — are at war with Russia. And if this is the case, then, bearing in mind the change in the essence of the conflict, we will make appropriate decisions in response to the threats that will be posed to us.”
That was a clear warning that British and U.S. targets could be hit. Biden thus wisely backed off.
It was the second time that Biden had sided with the Pentagon against the neocons in his administration when it came to avoiding direct war with Russia.
The first time was in March 2022 when his neocon Secretary of State Antony Blinken stepped out of line to announce that the U.S. would give NATO-member Poland a “green light” to send Mig-29 fighter jets to Ukraine to enforce a no-fly zone against Russian aircraft.
[See: The Madness of Antony Blinken]
Members of Congress and the media then piled the pressure on Biden to approve it until cooler heads at the U.S. Defense Department, the greatest purveyor of violence in history, stepped in to stop it.
Biden ultimately sided with the Pentagon, and he couldn’t be more explicit why. He opposed a NATO no-fly zone over Ukraine fighting Russian aircraft, he said, because “that’s called World War III, okay? Let’s get it straight here, guys. We will not fight the third world war in Ukraine.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the time backed him up, saying:
“President Biden’s been clear that U.S. troops won’t fight Russia in Ukraine, and if you establish a no-fly zone, certainly in order to enforce that no-fly zone, you’ll have to engage Russian aircraft. And again, that would put us at war with Russia.”
But now Biden has reversed himself on his sensible positions and is defying the Pentagon to roll the dice that Russia’s warnings, repeated on Monday by Putin’s spokesman, won’t lead to nuclear conflict.
While he previously would not even authorize British long-range missile attacks into Russia in September, let alone U.S. ATACMS, on Sunday he authorized the ATACMS, risking Russia taking direct action against U.S. targets.
So what changed Biden’s addled mind?
An Undemocratic Democratic System
First, the undemocratic U.S. electoral system gave Biden the opportunity. His party was voted out of office on Nov. 5, but though the demos rejected Democrats in the White House they get to hang on in power for another 11 weeks, enough time to do considerable mischief to tie up the incoming administration that the people chose. (In a parliamentary system the new prime minister takes office on the next day and names the new cabinet well in advance of the election).
After one-term president George H.W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton in the 1992 election, Bush used those 11 weeks to invade Somalia, saddling Clinton with a foreign policy crisis that would bog him down and distract him from his agenda.
What’s happening now is something similar. Biden wants to undermine Trump’s effort to end the Ukraine war. The incoming vice president has floated the idea of Russia holding on to territory it has won in exchange for peace.
Biden staked his legacy on Ukraine. He was involved in the 2014 coup, in allegedly shady practices there with his son and then in provoking Russia to invade in 2022. He foolishly believed he would prevail in bringing down Putin with an economic, information and proxy ground war. [See: Biden Confirms Why the US Needed This War]
All three are now decisively lost as the U.S. — still under Biden — prepares for the end game. Biden’s only face saver is for Ukraine to get back some of its lost territory by trading for it with Russian territory it seized in Kursk this summer.
So he is authorizing U.S. soldiers to operate ATACMS missiles from Ukraine to beat back a 50,000-man Russian force seeking to take back all of that Russian territory. Part of that force, according to the Pentagon spokesman, is a contingent of at least 10,000 North Korean troops invited by Moscow, thus operating legally on pre-war Russian territory.
Yet the presence of these North Koreans has sent the Biden administration and its allied media into paroxysms of near insanity. The New York Times reported on Sunday:
“Officials said Mr. Biden was persuaded to make the change in part by the sheer audacity of Russia’s decision to throw North Korean troops at Ukrainian lines. He was also swayed, they said, by concerns that the Russian assault force would be able to overwhelm Ukrainian troops in Kursk if they were not allowed to defend themselves with long-range weapons.”
It is not like Biden doesn’t know the potentially grave consequences he is recklessly unleashing. He was already warned about the no-fly zone and said “that’s called World War III, okay?” He was then warned by the Pentagon against allowing the British missiles and acted like a responsible statesman.
But now, when it comes to his precious legacy, he doesn’t appear to give a damn about anything else. He was deprived of a second term (by traitors within his own party he no doubt thinks) and he will risk a NATO-Russia war to avoid the taint of utter defeat in Ukraine.
This is what he’s ignoring, according to the Times:
“Some of Mr. Biden’s advisers had seized on a recent U.S. intelligence assessment that warned that Mr. Putin could respond to the use of long-range ATACMS on Russian soil by directing the Russian military or its spy agencies to retaliate, potentially with lethal force, against the United States and its European allies.
The assessment warned of several possible Russian responses that included stepped-up acts of arson and sabotage targeting facilities in Europe, as well as potentially lethal attacks on U.S. and European military bases.”
Where it goes from there, nobody knows.
Thanks, Joe.
Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former U.N. correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and other newspapers, including The Montreal Gazette, the London Daily Mail and The Star of Johannesburg. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London, a financial reporter for Bloomberg News and began his professional work as a 19-year old stringer for The New York Times. He is the author of two books, A Political Odyssey, with Sen. Mike Gravel, foreword by Daniel Ellsberg; and How I Lost By Hillary Clinton, foreword by Julian Assange.
My friend, whom I have never met personally , Mr. Joe Lauria, with a great deal of respect.
I have had a craw full of the B.S. coming in a constantly growing flow from D.C., which in my opinion is not a swamp but rather a shit hole. Alligators would not live there, far too many ‘Rat Bastards’. (greedy politicians and the money men who pay them off) I apologize to the rats of the world.
The last 35 years of my life I have observed a decline of quality of life in this country at a rate that would cause ones nose to bleed. Innuendo very much intended! People with addictions seem to have frequent nose bleeds from one cause or another. It is often said that individuals who are struggling with substance abuse issues have to hit rock bottom before they can ever recover. Save the very few cases where an individuals strength is such they manage to ‘see the light’ I concur with that observation.
Those afflicted with the diseases of greed for power and greed for wealth have manged to drag a once great country to the very bottom of the pit called Hell. A country that no longer can pay it’s debts. Instead the government promotes death and destruction cheating it’s citizens by cutting social benefits and creating an ever burgeoning poor population forced to compete with immigrants who force wages down for those of the least educated and skilled among us by growing the work force.
Sure we could blame all this on Biden who I have never been a fan of. I will not, we should never have ever been forced to decide between Biden and re-electing Trump. I never like the very useful arrogant fool to begin with. But the duopoly rules and doesn’t govern any longer.
At some point in the very near future ( maybe eight years ago after Obama) everyone who voted should have realized two things. One, the two party system has out lived any usefulness to the anyone except the super wealthy and second, the two party system as long as both parties cater to the super wealthy is useless to everyone else.
After the Obama second term the democrats should have known drastic changes were badly needed by the country. SEE: Donald J. Trump who was/is if nothing else, an individual who acts in a drastically chaotic manner. The democrats went all in with the Clinton’s after Bill used his two terms to manage two administrations subservient to the super wealthy. There were reasons for his behavior.
Clinton while governor of Arkansas carefully rode a fine line during his days as governor there. He got too involved in reforming the banking in the state while attached at the hip to CIA connections operating in Arkansas. We have to ask former AG Bill Barr, we cannot ask Danny Casolaro, Gary Webb, or Vince Foster, all three died from ‘suicide’. All three were involved in similar orbits around the seamier sides of life in America. Danny and Gary investigative reporters, Vince Foster collateral damage victim and with Aaron Swartz (AaronSw) a young computer prodigy , internet activist / hacker who ran afoul of the system. suicide. Barry Seal who worked closely with CIA transporting cocaine out lived his usefulness to the agency and a judge placed him in a halfway house where he was easily found and shot too many time to count by cartel hit men. But I digress, besides that story is a long one.
Ever hear of the PROMIS / INSLAW AFFAIR and William Hamilton , the U.S. Marine Corp Air Station (MCAS) El Toro Irvine California 1943 -1999, the crack cocaine epidemic that spread East country wide just before cheaper stronger more available methamphetamine took over? Check it out kids!
I’m getting pretty long in the tooth so to speak and after April 24, 2024 I’ve grown extremely weary of restating the obvious.
Biden is a yes man and always has been to my estimation. After seeing what happened to Barrack Obama he was smart enough not to be too independent, being a self admitted Zionist who behaves very much as one would expect a neocon to act the TOP Democrats got what they wanted. The rest of us not so much. Got that!
We are reaping the harvest of misery, the result of collective of what our individual ignorance of our governments criminal ineptness has sown for us. More war, more authoritarian rule from the fall out of 911, which could have been and should have been avoided. The infamous National Security Act and force fed the Patriot Act, which should be done away with and even , yes Virginia, even more horrifying war.
Catching my drift here Kiddies? Better buckle up!
The POTUS elect in no way represents my values. I did not vote for him and he may rule me and my existence, but he is not MY president.
It looks like this is intended to test Russia’s air defenses, which it appears have worked perfectly, all of the missiles were reportedly shot down. The so-called West, (US and vassals) is getting more desperate, more reckless and more pathetic. When DT comes to power in January, the focus will be on Russia’s ally China. Elections are irrelevant, US/UK foreign policy is long-term. The main enemy is China.
The late John Pilger’s documentary The Coming War on China (available on YT) illustrates this very well.
“Where it goes from there, nobody knows.” Joe Lauria
Awh, Joe Lauria, this has “got” Jeffrey St. Claire written all over it, i.e., Joey Robinette Biden’s been on & around Capitol Hill for decades. Year after year, Joey Robinette Biden & Kamala Harris “haven’t witnessed any uprising from the Congressional left, yet.” Concluding, Biden-Harris “must feel they are on pretty safe ground,” calling the shots!!!
Basically, Biden’s-Harris’ WH, M.I.C., DoJ, Alpha-Beta Agencies, are Hors d’War.
The take away, “Anyone who’s been paying the slightest attention to American politics since the 60s knows that when the Democrats say “fight” it’s only metaphorical. Unless they’re sending you to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Lebanon, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama, Grenada, Afghanistan, Somalia, Serbia, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, in which case you’d better kill son and when you’ve killed your quota it won’t be called “fighting” but a “police action.” Jeffrey St. Claire
February 12, 2021: The mainstream media, TV & Print, “The Press,” “cultivated and nourished DJ Trump as a political figure and now they already miss the “thrill” of covering the monster they engineered.” Talk about smoking your own crack.” (Jeffrey St. Clair)……. Four years later, DJTrump is BACK!!!
Awh, Joe Lauria, about “Joey’s precious legacy;” it’s Biden’s-Harris’ 3-D Strategy, Deception! Destruction!! Death!!! There is absophknlutely NOTHING “precious” about it! November’s 2024,“RED Wave,” crushed ‘em!!! Biden-Harris are Busted! Bankrupt!! Done & Dusted!!! Biden-Harris are GONE!!!
“Grasp tightly what is real in life!” TY, CN. “Keep It Lit!”
Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot. Time to bend over and kiss our butts goodbye. The cockroaches will miss our chocolate chip cookies, but no one and nothing else will miss us.
Biden has always been as corrupt as any pol in my lifetime. This latest is nothing to be surprised about.
The Ivy D elite is still all atwitter trying to explain away how their obviously superior brand could ever lose.
It must have been the ignorance of that “basket of deplorables.” Never mind how the neolibs dumped the New Deal and abandoned labor. Or how the D party became just another wing of corporate rule through mechanisms like the WTO. etc. Oh, and deregulation which led directly to the crash of ’08. When the silenced majority working class lost hard earned pensions and even their homes. But sure, vote for the Ds because, uh, {*crickets*}
Then we have those whom Halberstam characterized so well in his book about Vietnam: //The Best and the Brightest.// Emulated by the 2.0 version running the Biden Dept. of State; explicit neocons, with their ultra narrow reality tunnels. The only thing they seem to see is their own sense of brilliance reflected back to them. That’s not RealPolitik–it’s distortion and dysfunction, a horrific danger for all life on Earth.
Worry about “legacy” is about wanting respect for being powerful and admired. During the Vietnam war one of the anti-war and anti-draft slogans was: “I’d rather save my a$$ than your face.”
That’s exactly it, Joe. We the ignored majority don’t want to serve as cannon fodder for econopathy. Or as actual cannon fodder for your delusions of empire. We don’t want to forego domestic needs like infrastructure and healthcare just so you and your bankster buddies can pay for and profit by these endless wars.
Not sure ‘preserve’ is the right word for Biden’s legacy, unless that legacy is so rotten, so riddled with corruption and crime that this reckless act of greenlighting long-range missiles is to make sure that nobody gets the insane idea that Biden is doing a good thing!
God forbid he should ever do the right thing, one that might save, rather than destroy, lives.
The act is crazy, and knowing the motives would take mind-reading. But this man is among the walking dead, and was to all appearances always a pretty bitter guy. His son has a head full of powder. His party has tossed him aside. He has at once won and lost most everything that he likely imagined that he acted for.
We cannot really know, but we might do worse than regarding it as one last middle finger.
Biden is tempting Russia to sell ICBMs to the Houthi :) They would know what to do with them!
Let us take a realist approach to what is happening here. Biden is not insane or demented.
The only significant part of Ukraine’s army invaded the Kursk region of Russia. Western media is telling us they have been very successful militarily. Every other news outlet says they are surrounded and in an effective prison camp of their own making.
Allowing this Ukrainian battalion to escape requires clearing away the Russian forces to the south of them. That means firing missiles into Russia.
The plan is to allow the Ukrainians an escape path so the war will last at least until Biden leaves office. This will allow him to leave without the having loser on his CV. The only thing Biden will have achieved in Ukraine. It cost Americans about $200 billion. What surprises me is that in a country that resorts to guns so quickly the only politician shot at recently was Trump.
The Pentagon ought to deploy a detachment of special forces to the White House to arrest and detain Joe Biden in the storied tradition of American-backed military coups in Eastern Europe and the global south.
Truly horrifying. The people are without representation.
Actually, it’s outrageous that Biden has been allowed to remain in office long after his mental incapacity became widely known. And just when his staff and close associates became aware of it is an important question that journalists and historians will want to have answered. At any rate, it’s a dereliction of duty not to invoke the 25th amendment and remove Biden from office.
I once held out hope for Mr. Biden, giving him the benefit of the doubt. Not any more.
I wondered whether Biden made this stupid decision because Zelensky threatened to expose some of the corruption to the MSM…..am I crazy?…. maybe so…
Biden’s “legacy”???
1) Empire-crushing proxy war in Ukraine.***
2) Joyous genocide
3) Apparent disregard for higher life forms by playing “nuclear chicken” with Russia.
Totally Tremendous Trifecta
We have no one but Obumma to “thank” for having elevated this contemptuous worm
from “mere” political and moral millstone around the figurative neck of Delaware.
——————————————
*** (Hardly an undesirable outcome but does illustrate profound and breathtaking incompetence in the role he has sought for himself.)
Biden did this foolish act while away from D.C., so Defense dept. were unable to restrain him. We know Biden’s ties to Ukraine go back to his son Hunter’s work there (Burisma). Biden has always been a war hawk, pretending to be for peace on earth. And now he brings the world closer to destruction. Selfish ego. Trump’s “let’s make a deal” approach far better in terms of foreign policy. But then the Never Trump MSM was against it and always promoting Biden.
Joe Biden is an insane dirty old man, who is a complicit murderer. What he is now telling us is that there will be a nuclear war. We all need to watch and re-watch “Doctor Strangelove.”
Genocide Joe’s legacy, now and forever, will be the ethnic cleansing going on in the Gaza/West Bank holocaust. He doesn’t need to add war with Russia to that. Perhaps somebody should invoke the 25th mendment and get him out of office.
Legacy is it? Their legacy is to squander. Not only more Ukraine & Russian young men’s lives, but their own sworn duty to US security & well being for the price of a careless & soulless political middle finger flipped on their way out the ever-revolving door of their fantasy tilt-a-whirl Empire.
What they leave behind in reality is an abattoir, out back of a hash house where the special is always a steaming platter of BS, with a side of calf slobber. Empty Promise spins on the jukebox. Caveat Emptor imprinted at the bottom of the bill.
Do not forget that Biden was egged on by shameless Macron who ha no skin in the game and the British lakesya Labor lackeys, just two days ago Plague on both of their houses!
Here’s what to learn about, the Democrats specifically, but pretty much all American politicians. We now see that anything that was said, hinted at, or in anyway indicated by the Democrats during the recent campaign that said that the Democrats were opposed to World War or opposed to Genocide, has now been revealed to be a blatant lie. All of their shadings and statements, they were all fake.
Now that the inconvenient exercise in pseudo-democracy is behind us, the Democrats want to escalate the fight against Russia to an open war. And the lights are all green towards Israel doing anything they want to do with no restrictions or even ‘tut-tutting’ from the Democrats now that they do not have to care what American voters think.
The trick is not to forget. Observe this. Remember this. Take notes if you have to. But do not forget this important lesson that if Democrats are sounding like they want ‘peace’ in an election, it is certainly and obviously a complete lie to get you to vote for their campaigns of World War and Genocide.
Never forget.
(D) is for Death. (R) ain’t for life, but (D) is certainly pro-Death.
The overall American legacy: wars and death all over the globe.
Democrat LBJ imported 300,000 South Korean mercenaries to help lay waste to South Vietnam during 1965
Yeah, I get a kick out of all this “OMG! North Koreans!!” nonsense. Whenever we start a kerfuffle with anyone else on the planet, we always bring along the whole chorus of “friendly actors” for help… Germans, Brits, French, Aussies, etc.
As usual it’s only an affront when “They do it”!
And the complete insanity of Joe Biden just grew by leaps and bounds – if that is even possible! Damn WARMONGER!
It can’t be that anyone takes any notice of what Biden says. Allowing a demented person to start WW 3? It is others who decide what they want done. Biden has nothing to do with anything.
They don’t let Joe Biden chose the color of the jelly beans. This is the action of the Democrat administration behind the senile old goat. This is the thousands of people who the Democrats appointed to high positions and that the Democrats in the Senate confirmed. This is not an old man who is playing with his jelly beans.
That’s the trick they want to pull. They being the mega-donors and the Dem media. They want to personalize this to Joe Biden, as he is heading off stage. The Democrats want to pass the buck. They want to blame all of these crimes against humanity on Joe, and then the next smiling young (genocidal) face will pretend to be on your side and not want to kill us all to ensure the World Domination of Wall Street, which is what the (D)s want and what a vote for (D) always means in these times.
The US government seems to be deliberately provoking a world war. Why would it do this? Because a national emergency allows it to suspend the last vestiges of democracy. It will say this will be temporary but we all know how this plays out. It will never end.
“The US government seems to be deliberately provoking a world war. Why would it do this?”
Perhaps the people “leading” the government are essentially soul-less sociopaths. Indeed, for all their vaunted genius, they appear unable to recognize the very real prospects of nuclear annihilation. Despite 5000+ years of organized civilization and myriad accomplishments in every area of human existence, one aspect of societies still remains unchanged: the inability to resolve conflicts without going to war. The weapons have indeed changed, but not the ability to manage our reptilian aggression.
Why is Biden still president? His actions during his tenure justified his removal from office. Moreover, he suffers from a debilitating disease; my diagnosis from afar is Lewy Body Disease. The fact that the Democratic leadership knowing his condition allow him to continue in office, knowing too that the decisions rest with his neocons. One more reason why they lost in the election.
The mass media are ignoring that this step is a de-facto declaration of war, and not because the Kremlin says it, but because of how international law works.
They talk about NK troops on pre-war Russian soil as an escalation. But Russia is allowed to do anything on it sown soil and to involve whomever they like. Just like Ukraine can use foreign help to fight and target locations on their own soil.
However, using foreign help to target locations on pre-war Russian soil constitutes to an act of war by the foreign countries providing that help.
I’m not aware that, to-date, there is any proof whatsoever that North Korean troops are active in the Ukraine region. This whole story started as propaganda pushed by the ‘usual suspect’ MSM sources fed by war hawks.
These stories are convenient for addled war mongers, they don’t realise they could easily become the targets.
I am also doubtful of the truthfulness of NK troop presence.
However, _even if_ they are present: there is a huge legal difference between foreign help with fighting and targeting on your own soil, versus foreign help with fighting and targeting on the soil of a third country, in this case Russia.
No, I am not sure that it is definitely the case either
It’s all about NATO attacking Moscow while hoping Russia thinks Ukrainians did it.
If a Russian missile came down and exploded on, lets use DC as proportional example to Moscow …. do people believe that America would care that the finger that pushed the button that launched the missile was not Russian?
These will be American missiles, paid for by American taxpayers, built by the American merchants of death, gifted to people who are willing to push the button, but still requiring American expertise to pick the targets deep into Russia and to set up the attack, and the missile will require American satellites and perhaps drones to guide the ‘smart’ missile to hit its target …. and yet, we think the Russians are so stupid that they won’t see this and consider it to be ‘an American missile’. But then again, this always goes with the belief that one is ‘exceptional’ … the simultaneous belief that everyone else is stupid.
Hope your house was built before the 1950’s, and thus might have an old bomb shelter in the back. Not that such a thing would ever have done anything more than keep people alive so they could come out into nuclear winter.
There is simply no limit to the depravity of the Democratic Party. Just when they reach the nadir of their policies and ideas, they put on their little thinking caps and go lower.
Gotta hope Russia air defense is really good and they can hold out till at least January for one last chance to avert a massive war.
I wonder what world Biden is living in. He has just entered the USA into the Ukrainian war. I may have been misled but didn’t that authority belong to the US Congress.
Now imagine Zelensky and other crazies in Ukraine actually pull the trigger. The US army actually has to fire the missile. The Russian S400 defense system shoots the missiles down. All very predictable.
Then Russia retaliates. The best NATO can hope for is that Russia will target Kiev or Kharkiv or Lviv. I doubt that will be Russia’s first choice. So what if instead they give Ansar Allah ultrasonic missiles to target US aircraft carriers. Hezbollah the same to target Tel Aviv. What if the new US missile base in Poland is hit by a missile barrage. What if Kiev is hit by a limited nuclear strike. What if one of Ukraine’s nuclear power stations is allowed to go critical.
Personally, I think the last option will be Russia’s first choice. Because they know Europe will suffer the fallout just as it did with Chernobyl.
The choices for Russia are many and varied. The outcomes for the USA and NATO are all disastrous. Is there no limit to the madness of the US/NATO group. Brinkmanship in this case is not the action of a sane person.
LOL at only Congress holding the authority to declare war. Congress hasn’t declared war since 1941. The executive branch usurped that congressional power long ago and laughs at the notion of congressional authorization.
One thing the founders never counted on when writing the separation of powers into the constitution was that one branch (the legislative branch) would voluntarily give up most of it’s powers to anther branch. Congress has spent the last century ceding lawmaking powers to the bureaucracies of the executive branch and war making powers to the president himself. Congress is too damn lazy to do it’s job so it farmed it out to executive branch agencies. They also like the lack of accountability that comes with allowing executive branch agencies to make administrative laws which Congress can disavow when they run afoul of the constitution or public opinion.
The really amazing thing is, Trump and his judicial appointees get branded as authoritarians when they try to take some of those powers away from the executive branch agencies and return them to where they belong (the legislative branch). They are purposely trying to weaken executive branch power and restore some balance to the separation of powers by forcing Congress to do it’s job, but get accused of the exact opposite.