Russ
02-13-2022, 06:56 PM
When confronted by a bully, you have three choices - fight, flight, or talk tough. Wait, let me amend that. The "talk tough" option is only available if people think you are tough. If they don't think you are tough, then you only have the fight or flight options.
If Biden had a reputation for being tough, then he could talk tough to Putin and Putin would listen. But Biden never really had a tough reputation, and his Afghanistan f-up made Putin (and Xi) totally convinced that that Biden literally has no spine anywhere in his body. Biden's "talk tough" option is long gone.
It's like the playground at school. The big kid that's never put up with bullying doesn't have to fight to get rid of the bullies. But the kid that already been bullied does have to fight, if he wants the bullying to stop.
Biden is left with only fight or flight as his options, and we all know that if Russia attacks Ukraine that Biden will abandon it without fighting. Not that that is the wrong decision at this point; that is a better option than risking WWIII. But the we wouldn't have come to this if Biden hadn't done such a cowardly retreat from Afghanistan. The "talk tough" option might have still been there.
One other thing - if Biden hadn't cancelled all kinds of oil pipelines his first day of office, then we might be still providing Europe with its energy (instead of Putin now doing it) and Europe would be more willing to confront Putin.
If Biden had a reputation for being tough, then he could talk tough to Putin and Putin would listen. But Biden never really had a tough reputation, and his Afghanistan f-up made Putin (and Xi) totally convinced that that Biden literally has no spine anywhere in his body. Biden's "talk tough" option is long gone.
It's like the playground at school. The big kid that's never put up with bullying doesn't have to fight to get rid of the bullies. But the kid that already been bullied does have to fight, if he wants the bullying to stop.
Biden is left with only fight or flight as his options, and we all know that if Russia attacks Ukraine that Biden will abandon it without fighting. Not that that is the wrong decision at this point; that is a better option than risking WWIII. But the we wouldn't have come to this if Biden hadn't done such a cowardly retreat from Afghanistan. The "talk tough" option might have still been there.
One other thing - if Biden hadn't cancelled all kinds of oil pipelines his first day of office, then we might be still providing Europe with its energy (instead of Putin now doing it) and Europe would be more willing to confront Putin.