War criminal Joe Biden hasn’t just backed Israel’s genocide in Gaza to the hilt. He’s also overseen the disastrous escalation in hostilities between Ukraine and Russia. And now, he’s reportedly taken “an unprecedented step towards WW3 (World War Three)”.
Biden WW3: “provocative” and potentially “catastrophic”
Two US officials say Biden has finally given Ukraine permission to use long-range US weapons to hit targets inside Russia. Vladimir Putin had previously warned that such strikes could push him to use nuclear weapons, and that he would consider them ‘a joint attack’. A Biden-created WW3 if you like.
Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reacted to Biden’s apparent decision by saying “it means a whole new spiral of tension” that will add “fuel to the fire”. A Russian newspaper, meanwhile, insisted that it was “one of the most provocative, uncalculated decisions of [Biden’s] administration, which risks catastrophic consequences”. And one Russian senator called it “an unprecedented step towards World War Three”.
It was always clear that Ukraine had no chance of winning militarily without dragging the West into the war or receiving even more Western money and weapons. And it looks like Biden’s team might be choosing those options, in a possible attempt to make a Russian deal with incoming president Donald Trump harder to achieve.
Many in Ukraine know the war needs to end soon, as Russia advances further into its territory and shows no signs of backing down. In fact, some in Ukraine even suspect that a Trump presidency, which many expect will end the war, could be a good thing for the country.
Stepping up a proxy war that has devastated Ukraine but filled the pockets of the war machine
Ukraine has suffered tens of thousands of deaths and immense destruction as a result of Washington’s proxy war against Russia. It has also affected poor people elsewhere in the world as it has disrupted food and energy supplies and contributed to inflation. The US always had the power to either end or perpetuate the war, much as it does with Israel.
US warhawks have cynically called the conflict “the best money we’ve ever spent”, as a way of fighting against Russia without losing US lives. In the first Donald Trump presidency, Washington was already funnelling weapons to fighters in the Ukrainian civil war, ignoring threats of consequences from Russia. Biden kept that going, and gave arms companies the special gift of doubling down when Russia finally invaded.
There is significant evidence that Joe Biden and Boris Johnson pushed Ukraine away from signing a peace deal just months after Russia’s invasion. They preferred to take the opportunity to fight a proxy war with Russia. And up to August this year, the Kiel Institute records that $61.1bn in weapons and equipment has gone from the US to Ukraine. Germany and Britain, meanwhile, have sent $11.4bn and $10.1bn respectively.
Biden’s legacy: running towards apocalypse in Gaza – and WW3?
Joe Biden’s legacy is one of an almost-complete collapse of US credibility as a result of his willing participation in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. People around the world now understand more clearly than ever before that, whenever the US has preached about democracy, freedom, human rights, or the rule of law, it was lying. It simply uses those concepts as tools to criticise its opponents, as it did when Russia invaded Ukraine.
While US warhawks will feed happily on the mess Trump is likely to cause elsewhere, they’re not ready to stop profiting from the war in Ukraine quite yet. And it seems they have Biden’s ear. Because he appears to be preempting a possible Ukraine deal between Trump and Putin (after the former assumes power in January) by taking a big, provocative step now.
We may not see WW3 as a result. But we’re certainly closer to that prospect than we have been for a very long time – thanks once more to Biden.
Featured image via the Canary
