Fate of Biden Hangs Over The NATO Summit Like A Ghost Conjured By Shakespeare

If Shakespeare was still roaming the earth and writing iconic prose, he would be front-and-center at the NATO Summit. It is a meeting of political ghosts, i.e. “dead men walking.” Maybe Will would do an update of Richard III, with the decrepit Joe Biden in the starring role. Accompanying Biden on stage for the official photo is the politically castrated Rishi Sunak, the impotent couple — Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz. Nothing says NATO unity like a photo comprised of some politically irrelevant hacks along with President Orban of Hungary, who has been excoriated in recent days by many of his “colleagues” feigning a smile for the camera.

Biden kicked off the festivities and managed to get through a teleprompter speech without mangling too many words or devolving into gibberish. Mission Accomplished (so far). Yet, the content of Biden’s speech was absolutely delusional. Here are some of the lowlights.

“Ukraine can and will stop Putin, especially with our full collective support. They have our full support,

“Together we supplied Ukraine with weapons it needs to defend itself, tanks, fighting vehicles, air defense systems, long range missiles, and millions of munitions.

“In the coming months, the United States and our partners intend to provide Ukraine with dozens of additional tactical air defense systems.

“Make no mistake, Russia is failing in this war. Over three years into Putin’s war of choice, his losses are staggering, more than 350,000 russian troops dead or wounded. Nearly 1 million Russians, many of them young people, have left Russia because they no longer see a future in Russia. And Kyiv, remember fellas and ladies, supposed to fall in five days, remember? Still standing two and a half years later and will continue to stand.”

It is one thing for the addled Joe Biden to be clueless about the true situation on the ground, but many of the NATO leaders in the audience also were applauding this crap. They cannot plead guilty by way of cognitive decline. The claim that, “Ukraine is winning and Russia is losing,” is a craven lie. Ukrainian forces are being pulverized by missiles, 3000 kg FAB bombs and drones. And neither the United States nor the rest of the NATO countries have a stockpile of 155mm artillery shells and air defense systems that they can send to Ukraine. This is pure malpractice by Biden’s speech writers.

In the weeks leading up to this summit, Ukraine was under enormous pressure from NATO leaders to do something dramatic on the battlefield to at least create the impression that a Ukrainian offensive, if properly supplied, could push the Russians back. The anticipated mini-counteroffensive never materialized. Instead, Russia is hitting Ukraine all along the 1000 km front and Ukraine is steadily retreating.

Maybe, behind closed doors, the NATO members will fess up and admit that Russia is eating Ukraine’s lunch and bleeding NATO dry in the process. Biden bragged that the United States has 100,000 troops now deployed in Europe. Wow! I bet the Russians, who have 1.3 million active duty soldiers, are quaking in their boots.

Today’s speech is nothing more than political theater intended primarily for the American political audience. But the youngsters who crafted this garbage had no understanding how these words will be heard in Russia. Russian planners, unless they are fools, will conclude that NATO is intent on attacking Russia and Russia will prepare accordingly.

John Helmer, a Western correspondent living in Moscow, aptly captures the Russian mood:

“American, British and Canadian troops in NATO’s forward bases in Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania are being told to prepare for deployment to the Ukraine next year. They are also being warned to expect to fight under heavy Russian artillery, missile, guided bomb, and drone strikes.

“This message is also intended to slip into the hands of Russian military intelligence and find its way to the Kremlin. There, Moscow sources believe, the intelligence is interpreted as provocation — part of the US and NATO scheme to escalate NATO attacks in the Black Sea and deep into Russian territory, in order to encourage Russian counter-attacks against NATO targets, triggering thereby Article Five of the NATO Treaty and collective NATO force intervention to follow.

“Additionally, Russian sources interpret the intelligence as confirming that the US will not allow capitulation and replacement of Vladimir Zelensky and his regime in Kiev — so no denazification, which is one of the two main objectives of the Special Military Operation. Also, no peace terms will be countenanced short of Russian withdrawal from Crimea and the four regions of Novorossiya, and the military defeat of the Russian Army. So, no demilitarization, the second of Russia’s long-term security objectives.”

Most of the NATO crowd, at least outwardly, is unconcerned with Russia’s capacity to escalate and NATO’s corresponding impotence to respond. The final message of this summit is already baked and ready to be delivered. NATO is not altering course and is not disposed to seek any peaceful resolution with Russia. The Russians understand that and are ramping up accordingly.

Larry C Johnson is a Managing Partner of BERG Associates, former CIA Officer and State Department Counter Terrorism official.