Joe Biden came to office saying that the defining struggle of our time is that between democracy and authoritarianism, and that his two top priorities as president would be to preserve democracy in the United States, and to see to it that democracy prevails against dictatorship throughout the world. He wanted to show the world that democracy works, and will triumph in an existential struggle with autocracy.
But Biden is failing the first test of his devotion to democracy. Authoritarian Russia has invaded democratic Ukraine, and Biden is refusing to confront Russia or do anything meaningful to defend Ukraine. Why? Because he’s afraid of Vladimir Putin.
Putin has been a destructive force in the world for much of his twenty plus years in power. He annexed the Crimean Peninsula and parts of eastern Ukraine. He used his military to kill huge numbers of civilians in Chechnya and Syria while destroying much of the infrastructure of both countries. He’s now doing the same in Ukraine. He’s deliberately targeting civilians, schools, hospitals, and places where civilians are taking shelter from his onslaught. In Russia, his regime has murdered journalists, human-rights activists, and political opponents. He has ended democracy in Russia, and used his power to enrich himself. And, of course, he has used misinformation campaigns to intervene in elections in the United States and Europe.
Putin is everything Biden claims to oppose, but Biden won’t confront him. Biden’s afraid of him. Vladimir Putin can now do anything he wants to his own people and to the people of other countries because Joe Biden has said he’s too scared to stop him.
Biden and his administration have said that the U.S. will defend every inch of the countries which belong to NATO should Russia invade one of them. But he won’t defend Ukraine. He will defend Turkey, Poland, and Hungary — three authoritarian NATO countries whose values Biden says he does not share — but he won’t defend Ukraine — a democracy whose values he does share.
Joe Biden reminds us constantly that he’s a catholic. A catholic would recognize that there’s an enormous moral issue confronting him. Vladimir Putin is slaughtering civilians of all ages, laying waste to the towns and cities of Ukraine, creating millions of refugees. Beyond keeping his promise to defend democracy, Joe Biden has a moral obligation to end this slaughter and preserve these lives and this country — and to quit being such a coward.
Recently, Biden stated that the atrocities Russia is committing in Ukraine amount to a genocide. Yes, a genocide. Yet Biden feels no obligation to halt this genocide.
What’s going on inside Ukraine is not a secret. Each day, newspapers and news programs are full of proof that the Russian military is maiming, torturing, and murdering civilians. The only way to stop these atrocities is to expel Russia from Ukraine using military force. Joe Biden is the only person in the world with that kind of military force at his disposal.
