POTUS throws some serious shade at Putin

Today's visit to Kyiv by President Biden

Victor Juhasz

Today’s TAT is fairly short and deals with today’s visit by President Biden to Kyiv. In popular terms, POTUS, “threw some serious shade at Putin today.”

Dictionary.com: throwing shade

I could easily write a book chapter on this alone from an influence, in support of national security perspective… but won’t. Too many home-chores today but this bears a couple of chapters or so.

POTUS (President of the United States) has just messaged not only Putin but a lot of other global thugs, rabid nationalists and populists with a shotgun blast of backbone. That backbone is not just of the USA, but about all of the nations in the world sick of being oppressed by abusive governments and soulless aggressors.

U.S. President Joe Biden (L) walks next to President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) in front of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral as he arrives for a visit in Kyiv on Feb. 20, 2023. (DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images)

Despite all of the security that comes with POTUS whenever he travels, going to a combat zone, regularly targeted by Russia’s advanced, long-range weapons, communicates to Putin and the other lawless, global thugs, several important messages and is actually, the US narrative of US national security and based on our true national values.

Here are a handful of the most important messages:

1. We are not afraid of Putin and his year-long series of unfulfilled threats.

   1. For a year now, it has become clear that the once feared Russian intelligence and military communities are lackluster at best and third would at worst.

      

      Illustration: Stephen Case

2. This visit demonstrates that the US has values that are not merely words on a page. Words mean nothing if you cannot clearly demonstrate that you will act on those words. Our NSS, National Security Strategy is the narrative of US National Security. This is because that it not only talks about our threats but also delivers the why of, as Americans, we stand behind those words based on our true national identity.

3. POTUS standing in the open with President Zelenskyy, where missiles sometimes land, subtly tells Putin, other thugs that moral values, US or otherwise, are worth risking your life for.

4. It tells Xi in China and Modi’s India, who are both competitors and employ primarily Russian weapons systems that they chose poorly, very poorly! This should surely give Xi’s aggression in particular, pause. It' makes his military threats against Taiwan far less sharp because like Putin in Ukraine, Xi would be up against first tier weaponry and trained forces.

5. Our full commitment to supporting Ukraine’s fight for their liberty and security, reaffirmed by POTUS today in Kyiv, says “Putin’s War,” isn’t over until Ukraine says it’s over. Their declaration to recover their sovereign territory tells the world that Putin lost. Professionals have largely said this now for a few months, me included but today’s visit, makes it clear everywhere.

   “Biden promised a further $500 million worth of weaponry, including artillery ammunition, anti-armour systems and air defence radars, plus tighter sanctions on Russia.”

   • REUTERS

     February 20, 202312:23 PM CST

     By Pavel Polityuk

     and Max Hunder

6. This visit, for Russians who can access outside news undermines Putin’s attempts to remain relevant in Russia. The very thing Russians have feared for centuries is happening again. They are losing to the outside world and for largely the same reasons that the last Tsar/ Czar, Nicholas II, lost to the Bolsheviks in 1917 and the Soviets lost in 1989.

   1. Massive corruption that steals the materials required for the military.

   2. Treating the Russian people like historical Russians serfs.

   3. Having the landed gentry of Imperial Russia lord over those serfs. In 2023, the landed gentry are oligarchs.

   4. Incompetent military and intelligence leadership due to corruption and the inability to train properly or professionally.

   5. Undermining the economy everyday Russians depend on to survive.

   6. 

      Finally, the Russian way of war spares no one; not Russian troops, not Russian citizens and not innocent Ukrainian victims.

For the first time since post 9-11, the world of values and morals is unifying and steadfast in their commitment to put an end the downward spiral of civilization, caused by a decade of rabid nationalist, populists, autocrats and theocrats, whose selfish drive for power, at immoral and destructive costs is no longer to be tolerated, without a fight.

What NATO and so many other nations around the world are demonstrating the same as what POTUS did today in person. Their unity against aggression should be front and center on the minds of other ruthless leaders like Putin, such as Xi, Orban’, former presidents of Brazil, Bolsonaro and Trump here in the states, Modi’s rabid Hindutva in India, Erdogan in Turkey, the military junta committing genocide in Myanmar etc. The global trend of out-of-control far-right aggression is unacceptable.

Getting there is still to be determined but so long as leaders continue to demonstrate moral courage, mean fewer operating opportunities for global thuggery.

Even as a life-long optimist, I was becoming discouraged. Today’s visit alone did not give me buoyed hope alone. This has been building, as the coalition of support against Putin has held together and solidified but today’s visit, felt like we are turning a corner somewhat. This though pertains to the influence portion of global strategic trends.

Getty Images

Yes, I think I will enjoy my buoyed optimism today and hope to see it sustained. It’s been a long-time coming and what the heck, we all would do well to see the sun poke through the last decade of catastrophic, authoritarian storms. I hope you will join me. As Ukraine’s ongoing success should tell us, we are stronger together and when our actual human values are the reason.

Happy week to all,

Paul