International Military - President of the United States (US) Joe Biden said the US position in Russia's invasion of Ukraine says the US prays for peace to prepare for war. "Until now, I believe he has made a decision. We have reason to believe that," he said of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Biden said the decision was related to plans to attack Ukraine. "We have reason to believe that Russian forces are planning to attack Ukraine in the coming weeks, the next few days," he said from the White House Roosevelt Room.
"We believe that they will target the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv," he explained as quoted by Zonajakarta.com from 19fortyfive. This is the culmination of days of messages from the Biden administration.
The door to diplomacy remained open until Putin attacked, but no one inside the White House seemed optimistic about influencing the Kremlin. Even when Putin briefly hinted that he might blink, instead of declaring victory, Biden's team mostly treated him as a fake head.
Joe Biden assured optimism that the West will stick together against Putin from now on and that an invasion of Ukraine will prove to be detrimental to Moscow. The second opinion may prove correct no matter what kind of sanctions package can be co-created, depending on the extent of Russia's attack.
Biden has tried to take a reasonable position. "We do not want war with nuclear-armed Russia and will not send troops to Ukraine, but do not believe Moscow should unilaterally redraw the borders of its neighbors by force," wrote 19fortyfive.
The problem is that the former, however important, always limits the options to prevent the latter. If unspecified sanctions don't deter Putin, he is always safe knowing that Ukraine is far more attractive to him.
Russia's increasing ties to China, a more serious threat to US interests than Moscow itself. The only saving grace is that the war of choice in recent years has gone badly for the government that has waged it.
Even if Biden and the West had no choice but to impose their will on the Kremlin, in the long run, this could be Putin's folly.