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Some on the left have been trying to rehabilitate Joe Biden from the incompetent, incoherent bumbler he truly has been into some kind of statesman with this trip to Ukraine and Poland.

But as I noted, even that is in some measure fake. They notified Russia in advance that he was going so they wouldn’t do anything near him that could put him in danger. Then even though there were no Russian missiles or airstrikes, as both CNN and Reuters acknowledged, suddenly air raid sirens went off right when he was walking down the street with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, to help the picture being painted of Biden as some kind of brave character. Talk about staged.

This morning on MSNBC, you had a former CIA guy/MSNBC “analyst” trying to paint Biden as the “savior of Europe.”

Fmr CIA agent @Mpolymer: "If Trump had actually won the election, think about — Ukraine would be part of Russia, the NATO alliance would be shattered."

"With Biden’s trip to Europe, he is welcomed as not only, frankly, the savior of Ukraine, but also the savior of Europe" pic.twitter.com/MGJWxqRmh1

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 22, 2023

“If Trump had actually won the election, think about — Ukraine would be part of Russia, the NATO alliance would be shattered,” he claimed.

That, of course, is demonstrably untrue. Let’s review the facts. Trump was president and Russia didn’t invade under him. They did invade under Obama/Biden, and now under Biden again. Obama/Biden pretty much did nothing in response the first time – they were reluctant to even provide Ukraine weapons. Trump provided them with weapons. Then Joe Biden gave a very bad signal that “minor incursions” might be okay with him and he lifted sanctions on Nord Stream 2.

Then, there was Russia invading Ukraine again. Some might think there was a relationship there. But as my friend Rich Weinstein reminded me this morning, this guy, Marc Polymeropoulos, was one of the 51 who signed onto the Hunter Biden laptop intel letter “suggesting” it was Russian disinformation. So much for his powers of observation. And this was the guy they had in charge of clandestine operations in Europe during part of his time in the CIA.

While Trump brought peace accords, during Biden’s time we got a disastrous pullout, new wars, and emboldened enemies/antagonists. We have Biden failing for a week to shoot a Chinese spy balloon out of the sky as it floats over our sensitive military operations. We’re now seeing China publicly drawing closer and talking about strengthening its ties with Russia. If they get involved in Ukraine, then that’s a more complicated kettle of fish.

Vladimir Putin and Wang Yi, China’s top foreign policy official, vowed to ‘strengthen’ ties between Moscow and Beijing at a meeting in the Kremlin ahead of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine https://t.co/8883HFcEO8 pic.twitter.com/b5uTWMBjwQ

— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) February 22, 2023

As we reported, Russia also announced they were pulling out of START.

As my colleague Streiff observed,

The biggest solid news item was Putin’s announcement that Russia would suspend its participation in the “New START” treaty signed in Prague in 2010. That treaty places a cap on the number of nuclear warheads held by the US and Russia and the delivery systems for those warheads.

I am forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the strategic offensive arms treaty.

Putin’s decision to “suspend” the treaty means he gets to keep the treaty in force but deny the US the ability under that treaty to carry out inspections. It’s good work if you can get it and something he would never have tried to pull on President Trump. I’m sure Biden and Blinken will go along with this bullsh**.

What did our estimable leader Joe Biden say in response to Russia’s thumbing its nose at him? “I don’t have time,” Biden responded, with a weird smirk, after he looked lost and tried to figure out how to stand properly for a photo-op in Poland.

"Mr. President, any reaction to Putin pulling out of New START [nuclear treaty]?"

BIDEN: "I don't have time" pic.twitter.com/um4YEE3zsd

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 22, 2023

This would be the point where you’re supposed to make a statement criticizing Russia, Joe. You shouldn’t have to be told that. But he’s having to work too hard just figuring out where to stand.

That’s part of the problem — he never has time — or the ability or inclination to respond appropriately — to balloons, to Afghanistan, to the border, to much of anything that is in the best interests of the United States. Our antagonists look at who we have in “charge” and it has emboldened them all.