US sees nothing useful at war with Russia

The first American soldiers from a group of two thousand additional deployed soldiers traveled from North Carolina to Germany and Poland last week. They must strengthen NATO’s eastern flank there, now that Russia is on the warpath and Ukraine has been surrounded.

Another thousand Americans already stationed in Germany are being shifted to Romania, as is Poland, a neighbor of Ukraine and a NATO ally of the US. The White House has already hinted that more troop movements to Europe are possible. In the US, another 8,500 troops are ready in the highest state of readiness. Latvia has already announced that American soldiers are welcome.’

The White House is thus cautiously rolling the military muscles to dissuade Putin from any invasion plans. But one thing is clear in the US: these are not preparations for war with Russia. The Biden government has already loudly and clearly ruled out that the military will defend Ukraine.

,”These troops are not going to fight in Ukraine,” said Defense Ministry spokesman John Kirby. They only go to Europe as a signal, he emphasized. ,, We make it clear that we are ready to defend our NATO allies when the time comes.’’

Presidents often menacingly say that ‘ all options are on the table’, when it comes to international conflicts. But in Washington, the military option is this time expressly N. A. on the table. ,, There will be no US troops going to Ukraine, ” Biden himself said last month in conversation with journalists.

His government is betting on heavy sanctions, arms deliveries to Ukraine and according to reports in American media also advice and training for Ukrainian troops. Putin may at least forget the construction of Nordstream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Europe if he invades, Biden said this week. But in the event of a ‘small raid’, the Western reaction could remain limited, he recently let slip.

Not only does Biden not feel like a new war, now that he has just broken off the endless struggle in Afghanistan at a high price. American citizens also see nothing in it. But 11 percent said they would send troops to Ukraine at the end of January should the Russians attack. Even arms support, only a third of those surveyed in a YouGov poll at the end of January thought a good idea.

Even political Washington is exceptionally United – both the right and the left have no intention of directly clashing with Russia. ,, There are a few things we need to be clear about, and one of them is that the American people will not support sending hundreds of thousands of Americans to Ukraine,’ Democratic senator Chris Murphy told The Atlantic magazine.

Republican senator Ted Cruz, wanted to be ‘unequivocal’, he said on the Senate floor. ,, Under no circumstances should we let our sons and daughters die to defend Ukraine from Russia.’’

Behind the relatively restrained reactions in American politics, there are various motives – from preventing bloodshed and new financial burdens to keeping the attention of that other great rival, China. In the camp of former president Donald Trump, there is also a certain admiration for Vladimir Putin, praised by Trump as leader.

Some American TV viewers last month angrily called The Office of Congressman Tom Malinowski from New Jersey. On the contrary, they wanted him to choose the Russian side in the conflict around Ukraine, former diplomat Malinowski shared astonished on Twitter. Why their people’s representative did not support the ‘reasonable’ wishes of Russian president Putin, they wanted to know.

America always prided itself on championing freedom and democracy in the world. But these people had been watching influential right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson on Fox News. ,,Are we really going to fight a war over a corrupt Eastern European country that is strategically irrelevant to us?’ he said. Carlson believes that America already has enough problems and thought it’ logical ‘ that Putin does not want Ukraine to become a potential member of NATO. He put the word ‘war machine’ in large letters about his own American White House.