Dispatches
1) Lluís Bassets, “El factor terrorífico; No es la primera ocasión en la que el mundo camina por el alambre sobre el abismo de una guerra atómica, pero constituye una novedad que se libre una contienda entera y desde el primer día bajo tal amenaza. ” El País, el 23 de marzo 2022 (00:00 EDT);
2) El País, “Biden: “Responderemos al uso de armas químicas en función de cómo sean utilizadas’; El presidente de EE UU afirma que China sabe que ‘su futuro económico está más ligado a Occidente que a Rusia.’El G-7 colaborará para investigar los ‘crímenes de guerra’ de Rusia en Ucrania,” El País, el 24 de marzo 2022 (17:44 EDT);
3) “Biden changes stance on sanctions, now says they ‘never’ deter,” The Washinton Times, March 24, 2022;r
4) Lindsay Kornick, “Biden snaps at CBS reporter over sanctions, Russian deterrence: ‘You’re playing a game with me’; Biden has a history of losing his temper or mocking reporters at press conferences,” Fox News, March 24, 2022 (3:35pm EDT);
Commentary
Biden lies again aboutbpurpose of threatened or real sanctions: Sanctions never dter,” he now says
“Truth is the first casualty of war,” the old adage goes.
Unfortunately. When we are fighting for democracy, and truth, the least we might expect from Joe Biden and his administration is that they tell the truth.
Biden’s oress conference at hte NATO summit today was short, and crisp. But his handlers couldn’t keep him from telling Putin that if his uses chemical weapons in Ukraine the response of NATO will be measured and proprtionate.If he uses chemical weapons, Bid said, the response will depend on how he uses the,
This was not the savvy response of a SKILLFUL leader who wanted to leave Putin guessing, and fearful of an overwheming response by NATO. Rather, it only served to reassure Putin that he is dealing with a weak and dithering leader of the NATO Alliance.
A fundamental problem with Joe Biden seems to be that he forgets who he’d talking to. za comment that might make sense within the confidential councils of NATO, can turn out to be a disastrous slip of the tongue when made publicly, which is directly to Vladimir Putin.
His comment today about a proportionate response to a Russian use of chemical weapons greatly undermined the deterrent force of NATO’s threatened response.
A proportionate NATO response to a Russian chemical weapons attack, under international law
Under international law, the NATO response to a chemical attack needs to be proportionate to the overall Russian invasion of Ukraine, not the specifics of any Russian chemical weapons attack.
This is an important point, and should be borne in mind not only by observers and analysts, but also by NATO officials and decision makers in crafting and and executing any such NATO response.
The Trenchant Observer