This is going to be a problem. If you want a full summary of what’s going on, honestly, this Wikipedia article is the best place to start. But as for the SparkNotes edition, Putin has around 125,000 troops along the Russia/Ukraine border, and people are trying to figure out what to do about it.
During his presser on Wednesday, President Biden uttered the quiet part out loud when he effectively said the US reaction to Russian action against Ukraine would depend on how big that Russian action was. While Putin clearly knew that already, saying it out loud is a problem, and some think (myself included) that President Biden’s slip-up gives Putin cover to do whatever he wants. Not to mention how the President’s comments affect the people’s attitudes in Ukraine.
But as the United States, I think we’re staring at a bigger problem. This is not the first time that President Biden misstated US foreign policy. During a town hall a few months ago, the President told Anderson Cooper that the US would absolutely come to the defense of Taiwan if China were to ever invade.
NOW THE CAVEAT: The POTUS gets to set foreign policy. So technically, if he/she/they/them/zir decided he/she/they/them/zir wanted to change official US foreign policy, he/she/they/them/zir could.
BUT the White House, in both the town hall and presser, IMMEDIATELY walked back the President’s statements which would mean that the President was not changing foreign policy but instead made a mistake when talking about the US policy. And this is where we have a problem. Jake Tapper on CNN (yes, I’m quoting CNN) put it well when he said that President Biden often says what’s on his mind, and sometimes that can be dangerous.
And that’s where we are. I think I’ll go deeper into the situation in Ukraine in a different article in the next couple of days, but for now, I think we all need to understand the dangers of misstatements by the POTUS. I have no idea what we do about it, but it’s happening, and we all should be aware.
