If Biden can get Putin to back down, It would be a major political victory for Biden.

[fightforfreedom]

It would be good for the midterm elections.

No one knows what Putin is going to do, but Biden has done a very good job uniting almost everyone against Putin. Putin is isolated, if he invades he will be more isolated and that will hurt the Russian economy. Putin knows this. I guess we will find out shortly because it would be difficult for Putin to keep 200,000 troops deployed on Ukraines border indefinitely.

[BootinUp]

1. If Putin is talking about non-existant genocide then

Biden is winning.

[rockfordfile]

46. I agree. Putin lost. The un-American republicans in our country should gtfo

[mopinko]

2. he missed his window of opportunity.

maybe tdfg convinced him to wait for a second term.

[cilla4progress]

3. Window

of opportunity?

[mopinko]

23. if he invaded during tdfg's revenge term, nato would be in an uproar,

and mango mussolini would have swallowed every drop of his bullshit.
why didnt he do it then? too many business deals in the way. but 2nd term? free reign.

[we can do it]

4. Huh?

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

5. Yes, you'd have to hand it to Joe... but if Putin doesn't back down, what then?

[Demsrule86]

9. Then we sanction the crap out of them...that is it.

[BlueIdaho]

6. Biden is already winning.

His handling of this crisis to date has been rock steady. His firm handling of Putin is resetting the US/Russia relationship and he is also re-uniting NATO and demonstrating the value of that important US/European Alliance.

Now imagine if that shit gibbon was still in the White House. He would have rolled out the red carpet for Putin to roll his tanks into Ukraine.

[PortTack]

26. +1000

[former9thward]

7. Putin is not isolated in any sense.

He has major allies in China, India, Brazil, and the Saudis.

[fightforfreedom]

10. That is not correct.

[former9thward]

12. It is correct.

[rso]

11. Putin

None of those “allies” can provide anything to counter the NATO military alliance.

[former9thward]

13. He is not fighting NATO and they are not fighting him.

[rso]

21. Putin

Of course he is, both directly and indirectly. Directly via sanctions and via NATO’s superb offensive cyber capabilities, and indirectly via having greatly increased NATO’s resolve which is the exact opposite of what Pooty wanted to achieve.

[former9thward]

24. Russia has been under sanctions since 2014 when then invaded the Crimean region of Ukraine.

It has not affected them in any significant way. Trading partners like China, India and Iran ignore the sanctions. And for that matter so does Europe and the U.S. -- both of which continue to buy Russian energy.

[PortTack]

27. When they freeze his oligarchs bank accounts here in the west, and make it so he can't use

The swift exchange it will effect them

Even Putin has told the russian ppl be prepared for some very harsh times do to coming sanctions

[former9thward]

28. Most of those accounts have already been frozen since 2014.

And they have long closed them anyway and put their money in accounts in countries that don't pay any attention to sanctions. None of this is simple.

[PortTack]

43. Not according to the latest reporting

Also read about Putin’s exchange issues via SWIFT. It will crush the Russian economy.

You’re right, it isn’t simple..maybe you shouldn’t try and make it appear as such

[former9thward]

45. You are the one saying the Russian economy will be "crushed"

That is a pretty simplistic statement.

[rso]

29. Putin

Those sanctions are child’s play compared to what’s coming. There is nothing that can save Putin from removal from SWIFT. The ruble will be demolished and his economy will be ruined. No one wants to be paid in rubles. Also, our offensive cyber capabilities, never used by Don the Con, will be unleashed.

[former9thward]

34. Why wasn't cyber used in 2014 during the invasion of Crimea?

[rso]

38. Putin

Because it was determined that Putin’s claims to Crimea, which was part of Russia until 1954, and whose population is overwhelmingly supportive of Russia, was not worth an all out cyber offensive.

[fightforfreedom]

15. Don't bother.

[Botany]

8. Sec. of State Blinken has agreed to meet with the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov @ the ...

... the end of next week but only if Russia does not invade the Ukraine as Vice President Harris meets
with our allies today in Germany. So Blinken is buying some time with Russia as Harris is working with
our allies to avoid any fighting but is also putting together a response that will hurt Putin/Russia badly
if he invades.


https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017713203

President Biden is the best President of my lifetime and he has put together a great group of people too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_Blinken


People forget that Joe Biden has many many years of experience in foreign policy. He was on and
at times chaired the US Senate's Foreign Relations Committee and that was one of his specialties
as V.P. for President Obama. Now they doesn't mean that Russia will not invade the Ukraine or things
will not "go bad" over there but this isn't Joe B's 1st rodeo. If Russia invades the Ukraine their multi
billion dollar gas pipeline to Germany will be over and Putin needs that money and President Biden
knows that too.

[WarGamer]

14. You're off a little bit

Biden and the US aren't really Putins target audience for his current "show" in Ukraine

THis isn't a US v Russia scenario

Putin is pressuring NATO to stop expansion and the key to that runs through Germany. Ironically, Germany has probably the best relations with Russia in all of NATO (exception being Hungary and couple others).

Without Germany, there's no NATO expansion.

While I understand the desire to turn this into "Joe v Vlad"... it's not really accurate.

[fightforfreedom]

16. I understand what you are saying.

But when it comes to politics this is the US vs Russia.

[rso]

31. Putin

Actually, not only does Putin want no further NATO expansion, he wants NATO members who presently border Russia to not be members any longer. That’s never going to happen of course.

[L. Coyote]

17. Putin is pushing the price of oil as high as possible. Putin won't destroy his profit stream.

https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/crude-oil

Brent barrel price is now $93.61.

[rso]

30. Putin

It will be interesting to see when our offensive cyber will finally be used to wreck their payment system.

[L. Coyote]

32. It won't be. We are not declaring war on anyone.

[rso]

33. Putin

Yes it will be, Putin has been using offensive cyber against us and the West for years, it’s just that Donnie would never use it against his buddy Putin. But with Donnie gone, the NSA will be unleashed as it should. It’s a perfect, bloodless way of damaging and embarrassing Putin, yet it offers plausible denial.

[L. Coyote]

35. We don't do acts of war.

[marie999]

41. Since when?

[Bleacher Creature]

18. If Putin backs down, the average American voter isn't going to even remember it in November.

We're a country of uninformed goldfish.

[Hav]

19. I think Biden managed it really well so far

He's threatening sanctions but he also emphasizes that the path for diplomacy remains open. This disarms anybody who pretends that the West is the aggressor here.
Biden set up a no win situation for Putin. Whatever Putin does, he and Russia will lose in these scenarios:
1. Russia retreats and looks like a dog that only barks while unifying the West's response to Russia. It also legitimizes Nato and the protection it may offer.
2. Russia invades Ukraine and justify it with a bs reason

For scenario 2, Biden's claim that Putin has already made the decision to invade Ukraine takes away any excuse going forward that Russia may come up with. Oh, they found mass graves? What a coincidence that they happened to have 150000+ troops and equipment ready to invade right there!

[Cartoonist]

20. Trumpers will give tfg credit

They'll say he called Vlad and made a deal.

[Jedi Guy]

22. Well, doesn't seem now like Putin is going to back down, unfortunately.

CNN had a headline up on their website saying that SecDef Austin said Russia is going to invade. Looking at the actual quote, what he said was Russia could invade "in short order." Biden has also made remarks to the effect that Russia is going to invade. Taken together, it seems the administration has concluded that it's not a matter of "if" anymore, it's just a matter of "when."

[lame54]

25. One of the reasons...

Putin has to attack(not a prediction- I have no idea which way this is going to go)

But it is now one of the factors that will guide Putin

[AntiFascist]

36. Yet Biden has warned us to brace for the economic fallout of Putin's actions...

which may ultimately increase support for Trump in 2024 if things go further south.

Putin would love to have Trump in power again.

[Kingofalldems]

37. Looks like Trump fans just love Putin.

Putin needs to be weakened and removed from office.

[themaguffin]

39. The right knows this, which is why they are rooting for Putin & also saying that is fake crisis to

help Biden.

These people are truly disgusting.

[marie999]

42. People in government saying Putin is going to invade in 2 days or on a certain date

are just making Putin more money. Maybe he will pull back his troops if Ukraine says it will give him all those nice new weapons it is getting?

[roamer65]

44. It will be an even BIGGER win for President Macron.

He brokered the summit. If he stops the invasion and achieves lasting peace accords, his gateway to leading the EU in to a federation is wide open.