Back to 1962, but Vladimir Putin is not Nikita Khrushchev, Joe Biden is not John F. Kennedy | Opinion

Carl von Clausewitz, the 19th-century Prussian military general, wrote that “war is the continuation of politics by other means.” Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy is based on brute force and blackmail – and, if necessary, assassinations and kidnappings inside and outside Russia.

His massive military build-up on the Ukrainian border and his threat to deploy troops “and infrastructure” in Cuba and Venezuela are intended to force the Biden administration and US allies to submit to its will.

Comparisons with the October 1962 missile crisis that brought humanity to the brink of nuclear war are misleading. Putin is not Nikita Khrushchev and Joe Biden is not John F. Kennedy.

Two months after the destruction of the Bay of Pigs at the Vienna Summit in June 1961, the Soviet dictator called on the United States to leave West Berlin, concluding that the newly elected inexperienced American president could be intimidated. President Kennedy was unprepared, and the Soviet leader dominated the meeting and reinforced his view that his opponent was also immature. This assessment of the Vienna summit led Khrushchev to raise the Berlin Wall two months after the meeting.

President Kennedy learned from this catastrophic meeting, the catastrophic consequences for the East Berliners, and during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, he skillfully amassed American friends around the world, imposed a naval blockade, and managed to prevent them. nuclear missiles, despite Fidel. The public explosions of the Castle.

Today, the context is different. The Russian dictator is not a party engineer but an experienced KGB officer who, despite previous international assurances of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, in exchange for Kiev abandoning its nuclear arsenal, annexed Crimea and held a military base. separatist war in the Donbas region of Ukraine.

The United States has an obligation to Ukraine. When negotiations between Ukraine and Russia broke down over the withdrawal of nuclear weapons from Ukraine in September 1993, Washington was involved in a tripartite process with Ukraine and Russia. This culminated in the Tripartite Declaration of January 1994. Ukraine agreed to transfer its nuclear warheads to Russia. Ukraine has received security guarantees from the United States, Russia and the United Kingdom.

The story goes on

Leaving Ukraine in the short term may seem like a guarantee of peace, but Winston Churchill’s words during another crisis in 1938 should make politicians stop thinking today. You have been given the choice between war and dishonesty. You have chosen dishonesty, and you will have war.

Despite the government’s intense efforts to help the president reconsider and learn from foreign policy setbacks, Putin and other haters are not intimidated by what they see.

Instead, they assume that Washington’s disorder, accusations, and responsibility give them a unique opportunity to strike at American interests.

Consider the following:

The Trump administration has backed tough sanctions on Russia and has done all it can to kill $ 11 billion worth of Nord Stream 2, which would supply gas to Germany, increasing Russian influence around the world. Europe, but the Biden government, believing that nothing was worth saving from the previous government. policy, waived the toughest sanctions without receiving concessions from Russia and eventually replaced them with weaker measures as the situation in Ukraine worsened.

Washington’s erratic withdrawal from Afghanistan sent a message of weakness to America’s enemies that pushed both Russia and China to a more aggressive stance in Ukraine and Taiwan respectively.

In June 2021, the Biden government lifted sanctions against three former Iranian officials and energy companies in a bid to get Iran to change course on its nuclear program in exchange for easing sanctions. Iran failed to respond as expected and the White House reinstated sanctions in October 2021 against two senior Iranian officials and two companies supplying weapons to groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and Ethiopia.

Twice in 2021, Biden said the United States would defend Taiwan if attacked by mainland China, but the government backed down, citing a policy of “strategic ambiguity.”

Chinese warplanes fly over the Taiwan Straits in Taipei’s defense zone in multiple challenges. Failure to blame China for millions of deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic and China’s growing presence in the developing world should be part of Putin’s assessment.

Anyway, what do we do now?

1. The American people and the world must be reminded that NATO is a defense alliance that does not pose a threat to Russia unless Moscow attacks one of its members.

2. The best way to promote peace and reduce tensions on the Ukrainian-Russian border is to close Nord Stream 2 until Russian troops leave Crimea, reminding Moscow of its commitment to Ukraine’s territorial integrity and seeking comprehensive and multilateral sanctions.

3. The Biden government must be prepared to provide military supplies and intelligence assistance to Ukraine if requested.

4. Congress should introduce emergency military appropriations, setting aside aid to NATO members under Russian threat.

5. America’s European allies, Japan, Australia and others, should be encouraged to engage in a broad diplomatic response to Putin’s aggressive plans that includes multilateral sanctions.

A weak America creates a more dangerous and uncertain world because it encourages international aggression. The Americans will support these and similar efforts, which should not be a partisan issue.

Frank Calzn was one of the founders of the Center for a Free Cuba and John Suarez is its executive director.