Presidents Biden and Putin have had their second video meeting in the space of three weeks on 30 December 2021, ahead of the 9 January 2022 meeting between the two sides at the level of senior officials in Geneva.
The White House statement emphasises that Biden “made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine.” (Italics added.) He “expressed support for diplomacy,” adding that diplomacy can succeed “only in an environment of de-escalation rather than escalation.”
In short, President Biden wants a measure of military de-escalation on the part of Russia which, according to the Pentagon, has amassed 100,000 troops at the border along with tanks and other heavy weapons, sufficient to invade Ukraine.
We may note that the words in italics are perplexing. What is meant by “further”? Is it a reference to the 2014 annexation of the Crimea? If so, we need to point out that the West has failed to analyse properly that annexation. Of course, it was a bold assertion of Russia’s local military superiority anticipating correctly that the West was neither willing nor capable of resisting Russia militarily. But there is much more to it.
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