It's My World War III Party And I'll Cry If I Want To

To some degree, it’s expected that an outgoing administration would try to get as many of their policy initiatives through before the next administration takes hold of the reins on January 20.

But what can be said about the Biden administration's sudden urge to approve Ukraine's use of U.S.-provided missiles for deeper strikes into Russia, relaxing restrictions on long-range weapon deployment?

Previously, Biden firmly resisted such approval, intent on avoiding any escalation he believed might pull the U.S. and NATO into direct confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia. Now, all of a sudden, it seems like a good idea?

Just when you thought the Biden administration couldn’t leave one more flaming brown paper bag of dogsh*t on the steps of the White House for President Trump…

Among all of the failed policy ideas over the last four years, our foreign policy and our southern border have been the two most dangerous blind spots for our country, in my opinion.

Not only have we actively pursued a strategy of avoiding peace talks between Ukraine and Russia—and not only are there semi-decent arguments for the United States being the catalyst for the Russia-Ukraine war floating around—but escalating tensions with just two months to go before Donald Trump takes office is a new kind of incompetence.

Following Biden’s approval of such missiles to be used, on Tuesday morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin lowered his country’s threshold for nuclear weapon use, allowing for a potential nuclear response even to conventional attacks supported by nuclear powers <cough> Biden’s new long-range missile approval <cough>.

Also on Tuesday, Russia claimed to have intercepted five of six U.S.-made ATACMS missiles fired by Ukraine at a military site in the Bryansk region, while Ukraine reported hitting an ammunition depot, according to ABC News.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the strike an escalation: “If the long-range missiles are used from the territory of Ukraine against the Russian territory, it will mean that they are controlled by American military experts and we will view that as a qualitatively new phase of the Western war against Russia and respond accordingly.”

For me, this move straddles a familiar line between incompetence and outright nefariousness. It’s frightening that there are so many policy prescriptions in the United States that leave me baffled as to whether or not people are just exceptionally stupid or if they have malevolent intent. The most glaring issue of this sort always used to be monetary policy for me. Today, foreign policy has stolen the spotlight.

The outgoing administration knows damn well that the incoming Trump administration is going to try and negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine in a way the Biden administration didn’t. They also know that the incoming administration will not be as keen to provide foreign aid for Ukraine as the Biden administration was.

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Because just two weeks after Election Day, we spent this morning having a serious discussion about the potential for a nuclear conflict between the United States and Russia. And while diplomats backed off their rhetoric fairly quickly Tuesday morning, the entire dust-up doesn’t happen unless the Biden administration goes out of its way to actively make it happen.

So explain this to me like I’m a child: if the Biden administration really does seek a good-natured transition between the administrations, as indicated by Biden and Trump’s cordial-looking meeting days ago at the White House, what rational explanation could there be for the Biden administration's sharp policy changes over the last 48 hours?

We’ve already seen the effects of President Trump winning the election on foreign policy. It was just hours after Trump’s win that headlines about Hamas seeking a ceasefire started to make their way around the globe after Trump’s win. And, following suit, there’s no reason to believe that Trump won’t ease tensions between Russia and Ukraine and eventually broker peace…unless the Biden administration actively goes out of its way to derail it before it happens.

I know it sounds sensationalist, but I have seen the Biden administration f*ck things up in short order over the last four years: food prices, the immigration surge, weaponizing government, vilifying police and good Samaritans, encouraging petty crime and looting and letting men punch women in the face in boxing rings in the name of ‘transgender equality’. To be frank, the damage this administration has done to our country throughout just one term has been breathtaking. And sadly, this means I believe it’s reasonable to be worried about what the Biden administration may do in the next month and a half as it relates to our foreign policy.

Hopefully, President Putin and President Zelensky are starting to take more of their cues from the incoming administration as the days pass, because it is becoming clear to me—by these major foreign policy escalations—that the Biden team may not be looking for a smooth transition after all.

I’d be taken aback by how exceptionally sad this is if I wasn’t just focused on the clear and present danger it poses. It feels like the Biden administration has had their hearts set on World War III for the better part of the last few years, and they’re making a last-ditch effort to try and make it happen regardless of consequences.

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