{"id":17907,"date":"2022-02-21T22:41:56","date_gmt":"2022-02-22T03:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=17907"},"modified":"2022-02-22T09:55:18","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T14:55:18","slug":"putin-europe-and-biden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin, Europe and Biden"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Vladimir Putin looks to be taking a couple of more bites out of the Ukraine.\u00a0 First, he reclaimed the Crimean Peninsula along with its warm water harbor for his navy.\u00a0 Then he supported his Russian allies in Eastern Ukraine to give them autonomy.\u00a0 Now he\u2019s declaring those eastern areas independent.\u00a0 They\u2019ll have two separate names, Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic, but the reality will be that for all practical purposes they will be part of Russia.\u00a0 As far as Western Ukraine goes, I assume what Putin will do is declare NATO membership as a flash point that would trigger invasion and occupation of the rest of the Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think anyone in NATO who is being honest with himself is at all surprised with this outcome.\u00a0 With the United States in disarray and Western Europe a laughing stock militarily I don\u2019t see how Putin would hesitate to use the excuse of NATO encroachment to reclaim hegemony over the Ukraine and Belarus.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some people are probably wondering about the status of the Baltic States; Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.\u00a0 These countries have significant Russian ethnic populations and it wouldn\u2019t be shocking to hear these groups might start making noises about being oppressed.\u00a0 The difference is these countries joined NATO back in 2004.\u00a0 If the Russians rolled into any of them this would be grounds for NATO military action which theoretically extends all the way up to nuclear war between Russia and the United States.\u00a0 Now there\u2019s a highly interesting point!\u00a0 Would the Russians attack the Baltics and would we go to nuclear war if they did?\u00a0 According to the book, we would.\u00a0 But would we?\u00a0 You know, we might.\u00a0 I think Putin isn\u2019t looking at the Baltics right now.\u00a0 I think he realizes that occupying the Baltics would be like invading Poland; a step too far.<\/p>\n

But he won\u2019t let the Ukraine or Belarus go.\u00a0 And he doesn\u2019t have to.\u00a0 The balance of power in Europe is shifting because of the weakness of the West and the improving economic position of Russia because of its oil and gas revenues.\u00a0 Germany and Eastern Europe need Russian energy supplies.\u00a0 They\u2019ll develop closer relations with Russia and hope to \u201ccivilize\u201d Russia as they hoped to with China.\u00a0 But I\u2019m not sure it will work that way.<\/p>\n

When the Soviet Union imploded in 1991 and Russia reached a low ebb, I remember thinking that all of the newly independent states like the Ukraine and Belarus would one day take their place as parts of Europe.\u00a0 They would be free and prosperous nations and chart their own destinies.\u00a0 But the reality of these places is an entirely different thing.\u00a0 The political dysfunction on display is shocking and characterizing these places as gangster states is not an exaggeration.\u00a0 The Russians have an intimate knowledge of the power centers and major players in these corrupt states and they can manipulate public opinion and bring enormous military and economic pressure to bear on any group that works against their interests.\u00a0 These states may have been declared independent but they are for the most part puppets of the Russian government.<\/p>\n

Knowing this to be true, I think it is na\u00efve to think we can detach these places from Russian hegemony.\u00a0 We\u2019re not going to send troops into the Ukraine or Belarus.\u00a0 We\u2019re not going to fight a nuclear war with Russia over these areas that we have no commitment toward.\u00a0 And the Russians know it.<\/p>\n

So, we\u2019ll threaten sanctions.\u00a0 Maybe we\u2019ll enact sanctions and then the Russians will use that as an excuse to take the rest of the Ukraine.\u00a0 Then they\u2019ll cut off the natural gas to Germany and Eastern Europe.\u00a0 Then Europe will end the sanctions.<\/p>\n

Now we get to the philosophical stuff.\u00a0 Back when it was the Soviet Union versus the West there was a very clear distinction morally between the oppressive communist regime that held all of Eastern Europe in virtual slavery and the relative freedom of the West.\u00a0 Here in the United States, we had our problems but in the 1980\u2019s we were a truly free people who enjoyed our lives and did as we pleased.\u00a0 But looking at the West today, especially after the COVID lockdowns, BLM riots, 2020 election fraud, CRT school propaganda and all the restriction on free speech and other freedoms by the surveillance state it\u2019s extremely hard to pretend we have any moral superiority over Putin.\u00a0 If Putin is a thug, then what is Biden?\u00a0 Is the successor to the KGB any worse than the FBI and the Justice Department as they run gulags for the victims of their January 6th<\/sup> false flag exercise?\u00a0 In fact, if you look at Putin\u2019s stance on LGBTQ, I have to give him the advantage of being on the side of religion and family and against celebrating depravity and mental disorder.<\/p>\n

I think Putin will have his way with the Ukraine.\u00a0 Biden will make a lot of noise and then do not very much.\u00a0 But it will be his chance to try to distract Americans from the disaster he has created at home.\u00a0 Somehow, I doubt it will accomplish very much.\u00a0 The cost of chicken is a little more important than the status of Kiev.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vladimir Putin looks to be taking a couple of more bites out of the Ukraine.\u00a0 First, he reclaimed the Crimean Peninsula along with its warm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1832,3107,1262],"class_list":["post-17907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","tag-joe-biden","tag-russia","tag-vladimir-putin"],"yoast_head":"\nPutin, Europe and Biden - Orion's Cold Fire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Putin, Europe and Biden - Orion's Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vladimir Putin looks to be taking a couple of more bites out of the Ukraine.\u00a0 First, he reclaimed the Crimean Peninsula along with its warm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orion's Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-22T03:41:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-22T14:55:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Eastern_Europe_Map.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"photog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@orionscoldfire\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@orionscoldfire\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"photog\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"photog\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3\"},\"headline\":\"Putin, Europe and Biden\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-22T03:41:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-22T14:55:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/\"},\"wordCount\":896,\"commentCount\":4,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Joe Biden\",\"Russia\",\"Vladimir Putin\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Current Events\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/\",\"name\":\"Putin, Europe and Biden - Orion's Cold Fire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-22T03:41:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-22T14:55:18+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Putin, Europe and Biden\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\",\"name\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\",\"description\":\"All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg\",\"width\":4022,\"height\":1419,\"caption\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/orionscoldfire\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3\",\"name\":\"photog\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg\",\"caption\":\"photog\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/author\/photog\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Putin, Europe and Biden - Orion's Cold Fire","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Putin, Europe and Biden - Orion's Cold Fire","og_description":"Vladimir Putin looks to be taking a couple of more bites out of the Ukraine.\u00a0 First, he reclaimed the Crimean Peninsula along with its warm","og_url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/","og_site_name":"Orion's Cold Fire","article_published_time":"2022-02-22T03:41:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-02-22T14:55:18+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Eastern_Europe_Map.jpg"}],"author":"photog","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@orionscoldfire","twitter_site":"@orionscoldfire","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"photog","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/"},"author":{"name":"photog","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3"},"headline":"Putin, Europe and Biden","datePublished":"2022-02-22T03:41:56+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-22T14:55:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/"},"wordCount":896,"commentCount":4,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Joe Biden","Russia","Vladimir Putin"],"articleSection":["Current Events"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/","name":"Putin, Europe and Biden - Orion's Cold Fire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-02-22T03:41:56+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-22T14:55:18+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/21\/putin-europe-and-biden\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Putin, Europe and Biden"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/","name":"Orion's Cold Fire","description":"All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization","name":"Orion's Cold Fire","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg","width":4022,"height":1419,"caption":"Orion's Cold Fire"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/orionscoldfire"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3","name":"photog","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg","caption":"photog"},"url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/author\/photog\/"}]}},"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17907"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17911,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17907\/revisions\/17911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}