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The world is a dangerous place. It is even more dangerous when the leader of the free world is believed to be a paper tiger. A look at recent history confirms this point. In 2008 President George W. Bush was not only a lame duck President, many considered him a lame brain. Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized an opportunity to take advantage of that situation. During the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics he invaded, and took control of, an independent Georgia. The next President he dealt with was Barack Obama. In 2014, Putin received no resistance from Obama after amassing tens of thousands of troops along the Crimea border. Putin took that as a green light and Russia invaded, and defeated Crimea. The next President was Donald Trump. What did we hear from Putin during Trump’s 4 years in office? Crickets! Coincidence? You decide. Next up, President Joe Biden. Within 90 days of Biden’s inauguration, Putin began moving troops to the Ukrainian border. When he heard crickets coming from D.C., he read that as yet another green light from the hesitant leader of the free world.

As I began writing this post on Saturday morning, the Russian military had entered the sovereign country of Ukraine. There is no doubt about the outcome of this conflict. Russia has a 7 to 1 advantage in military personnel, 4 to 1 in tanks, 25 to 1 in armored vehicles, 13 to 1 in total aircraft, 11 to 1 in fighter jets, 15 to 1 in attack helicopters, and a naval fleet that outnumbers the Ukrainian fleet 16 to 1. The only advantage held by the Ukrainians is that they are a gritty people fighting for their freedom, and defending their country. Defense of one’s country is a powerful advantage, but will only be of short term value. The only question is how long the Ukrainian military, and her people, will be able to hold on before it is reduced to some form of guerilla warfare. (I wonder if the $85 billion in military equipment we left behind when we were chased out of Afghanistan might have been useful to Ukraine)? This is a terribly sad time for the Ukrainian people.

The Ukrainian’s nightmare is especially tragic once you realize it may have been entirely avoidable. In March of 2021 Putin began amassing troops along the Ukrainian border. Just 5 months earlier the American people elected a man who campaigned as having the most experience in foreign diplomacy of any President in history. President Biden had an opportunity to win over his critics, and cement his legacy, in his first 3 months in office. He did exactly what those who voted against him expected. Nothing! He did exactly what Vladimir Putin expected. Nothing! That’s not totally fair. He did threaten and cajole. That might be effective when the enemy is a second rate tyrant. It didn’t phase a nuclear armed Russia.

Putin had to be giddy as he watched Biden shut down nearly 20% of America’s oil and gas production on his first day in office. Putin knows that energy is king. Almost everyone knows that countries who have it control their economic destiny. Those who don’t are relegated to beggar status. During the Trump administration the USA became the largest producer of oil and gas in the world! We were actually exporting oil and gas for the first time since the 1950s. Less than 6 months after Trump left office, Biden’s horrid energy policies forced us to go begging. The USA, with the greatest oil and gas reserves in the world, is begging adversaries for oil. Biden went to OPEC, and the Russians, asking them to provide the fossil fuels we need to keep our homes warm/cool, transportation moving, and factories humming. The same fossil fuels that we were producing here just months earlier. The energy shortage, created by Biden’s policies, forced the price of a barrel of oil to nearly double in just over a year. We currently purchase nearly 600,000 barrels of oil a day from Russia. At the current price of $100 per barrel, we are paying the Russians nearly 60 MILLION DOLLARS A DAY! These are fossil fuels that, just over a year ago, we were producing here, using American workers, and clean technology. Instead, we are literally funding the military of the country that is invading Ukraine. This policy is imbecilic, and potentially suicidal.

In March of 2021 the Ukrainians were desperate for the POTUS to take forceful actions against Russian aggressors. This presented the kind of crisis that strong leaders (SL) grasp with both hands. Here’s what I think an SL would have done. Immediately upon learning of Russian troop movements toward Ukraine an SL would have contacted Putin and given him a deadline to stop the deployment. An SL would have told Putin that if he didn’t start withdrawing his troops he, the SL, would call an emergency meeting of the United Nations (UN). He would inform Putin that the purpose of that meeting would be to investigate ways to remove Russia from the UN. An SL would warn that if the troops weren’t withdrawn, Russia would be hit with every possible sanction available. Finally, an SL would do what great leaders do. He would admit he was wrong about reducing fossil fuel production in the U.S. He would put out the word to U.S. drillers to crank up production. Increased U.S. production would lower the price of oil, causing serious damage to the Russian economy. Our President did none of the above. He waited until the Russian military entered Ukraine to issue a few feeble sanctions. Too little, too late. Once Putin deployed 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border he had to invade. Biden said he would wait “a month or two” to see how those sanctions were working before deciding what other steps to take. What an incredibly cavalier attitude. Ukrainians are dying, they might not survive a month or two. Putin has had ample experience with Biden. The dictator knew he wasn’t dealing with a strong leader. He knew he would face only minimal blowback from the Biden administration. If Putin is an irrational megalomaniac the above suggestions probably wouldn’t have mattered. Because we did nothing, we’ll never know. The Ukrainians desperately needed the leader of the free world to do everything he could to stop the invasion. President Biden, sadly, was not up to the challenge.

Our votes are important. They impact more than just what happens in the USA. We must commit to spending more time to educate ourselves on who candidates are, and for what they stand. Because we can’t trust the media, we must take the time to go to town hall meetings. We have to ask hard questions and hold candidates, and elected officials alike, to their answers. It is important that we stop going into the voting booth and voting blindly for a person just because there is a D, or an R, after their name. The Ukrainians are paying a terrible price because our dementia addled President isn’t capable of being the strong leader the world needs. Americans should have demanded to see more of candidate Joe Biden, and demanded that he earn our votes by answering more of our questions. Had we done that we would have known he was incapable of performing the multiple responsibilities required of the President of the United States. Like it or not, Joe Biden is President of the United States because many of the 80 million Americans who voted for him, voted for a “pig in a poke”.

As I am posting this blog on Sunday afternoon, the Ukrainians are heroically holding their own. They are beginning to receive munitions and equipment from other countries. Still, I am asking that everyone reading this post take a minute and say a prayer for the Ukrainian people.

If you found this post interesting, and/or informative, please tell your friends about it. Thanks, Bob