So, there isn’t going to be an invasion on Wednesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian troops could invade this week. The situation is already tense as Russian troop movements show that a war could be imminent. We’re evacuating our embassy staff. We’re warning Americans in Ukraine to get out. It’s the same movie again, folks. Did you see the original? It was called Afghanistan—and it was a total and complete disaster. We abandoned 9,000 Americans initially. The Biden administration also warned that no US troops will be used for rescue operations.
‘Good luck getting to the airport’ has been reloaded as a foreign policy compass with Joe Biden.
US troops have been deployed to the region, and we’ve been warning Russia that an invasion would be met with severe consequences. They haven’t specified what that means. With Biden at the helm, it would most likely mean a lot of tough talk, or supposed tough talk, followed by nothing. It’s the Obama playbook post-annexation of Crimea. To make things even more insane, Ukrainian officials now say that Zelensky was being ironic about an invasion by Wednesday (via NBC News):
Hours after issuing a global statement saying he heard Russia would attack his country on Feb. 16, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy walked back the prediction on Monday, clarifying that he was referring only to media reports.
The first statement spooked the markets and led to widespread headlines and media reports.
“We are told that February 16 will be the day of the attack,” Zelenskyy said in a video statement posted on Facebook.
However, after his comments were taken by many at face value, his spokesman, Sergii Nykyforov, said that the president, who is a former comedian, was only saying what has been reported elsewhere.
“The president referred to a date that was spread by the media,” the spokesman told NBC News.
A senior Ukrainian official has denied that President Zelensky was being literal when he said in an address to the nation that he'd been told a Russian attack would begin on February 16th. Mykhailo Podoliak, a Presidential adviser, that Zelensky was being ironic.
— Vaughn Sterling (@vplus) February 14, 2022
Biden and Putin spoke over the weekend, which was probably a train wreck. Biden just oozes weakness—and we all know what Russians do when they sense that. Something is probably going to happen within the coming days. Biden will probably initially react by remembering that he’s president. Antony Blinken will remain a deer in the headlights. And Jen Psaki will do what she does best: peddle talking points that don’t stick because they’re not grounded in reality.