Putin Took Advantage of Weak U.S. President
RUSSIA WOULD NEVER HAVE INVADED IF TRUMP WAS IN CHARGE SAYS SECURITY EXPERT FRED FLEITZ.
T
he most important lesson from Russian President Vladimir Pu- tin’s invasion of Ukraine
in February is that a strong America and a strong and de- cisive American president are crucial to global security. The Ukraine crisis was the result of weakness from Presi- dent Joe Biden, including his disastrous withdrawal
from
Afghanistan, appeasement of Russia, and unserious policies such as climate change and pro- moting a “woke” military. Coupled with a grow- ing global perception of
Biden’s mental
incompetence, these factors emboldened America’s saries
adver- to consider
aggressive policies and adventurism they would not have
attempted
during a strong and competent presidency. It is no accident that Putin’s
intervention occurred under Biden, and not under President Donald Trump. Despite massive efforts
by the left to smear President Trump for colluding with Putin and being soft on Rus- sia, Trump’s Russia policy was much tougher than Biden’s and he was a leader that Putin respected. Trump imposed sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipe-
line to Germany. Biden lifted them.
What will Putin do next? Will
he intervene in other former Soviet states like Georgia and Moldova? Will he dare invade NATO
states in the Baltics, such as Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, or even Poland? How serious are Putin’s
demands that NATO forces pull out of all states that joined NATO after 1997? To answer this, one has to
ask how serious Putin is in rees- tablishing the Soviet Union and his historical revisionism. He has often expressed bit- terness about the breakup in 1991, calling
it the “greatest
geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century.”
I believe Putin’s regret over the demise of the Soviet Union and ic
his Russo-centric of has
view of history are sincere. But I also believe Putin real- izes that the Russia today — which an
economy APRIL 2022 | NEWSMAX 57
TANKS/PETMAL©ISTOCK / BIDEN/DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES / PUTIN/SERGEI KARPUKHIN\TASS VIA GETTY IMAGES
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