The White House Launches an Incredibly Odd Public Attack on Ukraine – Opinion

It seems that only Vladimir Putin can predict whether or not an invasion of Ukraine will occur, based on what is happening at the border between Russia and Ukraine. Yet, within the Biden administration, questioning the imminence of such a move is beginning to earn scorn — and we should probably start asking: Why?

Some weeks ago, I noted that supposed Ukraine expert and Trump impeachment architect Alexander Vindman was conveniently avoiding any criticism of Joe Biden’s handling of the situation. Yet, he didn’t hold back when it came to going after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Unhelpful. His people should be prepared for the future. It’s far more important to prepare his people for what is coming than to downplay the threat or present false confidence. https://t.co/tYqGbM5N4T

— Alexander S. Vindman (@AVindman) January 19, 2022

Zalensky is being attacked by the White House, and not because of inflaming the war embers, but because it didn’t whip his people into panic. In the last days, Ukraine’s president has tried to rebut the US approach and insists that he understands more than Joe Biden.

Per CNN, that led to a public response that Zelensky is “downplaying the risk,” something the White House apparently finds unacceptable.

“We understand the difficult position (Ukrainian) President (Volodymyr) Zelensky is in and the pressure he’s under,” a White House official said Saturday. “But at the same time he’s downplaying the risk of invasion, he’s asking for hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons to defend against one. We think it’s important to be open and candid about that threat.”

There’s certainly some hypocrisy in such a comment given the White House’s penchant for whitewashing any problem it finds politically inconvenient. Still, I don’t understand the strategy here in pressuring Ukraine to essentially concede an invasion.

Is there anything to gain by boosting Russia’s military might? Wouldn’t the smarter move be to prepare militarily behind the scenes but to present a united front publicly? The official above notes that Ukraine has been asking for weapons, but that doesn’t equate to Zelensky believing an invasion is imminent. Ukraine is asking for weapons since years to improve its defense capabilities.

The Biden administration seems to have this weird obsession with pushing Russia’s invasion narrative for them. Putin would like the Ukrainians to fear their leadership and live in terror. That’s part of the psychological warfare at play to turn parts of the Eastern European country to his side, as happened in the Crimea region. But when Zelensky attempts to project strength and calm in the face of that, the White House attacks him for not giving Russia’s aggression enough credit. Vindman, along with other minions, then runs off to get their cable news hits and repeats the Biden narrative.

Does this mean that Zelensky is more chummy than Trump? Biden believes that the American people will be more tolerant of a Russian invasion than they are of Russia. Whatever it is, the White House strategy appears rather misguided and counter-productive, and there’s too much smoke to not suspect something is going on behind the scenes.