Biden’s Two-Faced Promises to Ukraine

By Jim Geraghty

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

 

President Biden said in his State of the Union Address one week ago, speaking to Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S.: “Ambassador, America is united in our support for your country. We will stand with you as long as it takes.”

 

This morning, the Washington Post reports that the Biden administration is telling the Ukrainian government exactly the opposite behind closed doors:

 

Despite promises to back Ukraine “as long as it takes,” Biden officials say recent aid packages from Congress and America’s allies represent Kyiv’s best chance to decisively change the course of the war. Many conservatives in the Republican-led House have vowed to pull back support, and Europe’s long-term appetite for funding the war effort remains unclear. . . .

 

“We will continue to try to impress upon them that we can’t do anything and everything forever,” said one senior administration official, referring to Ukraine’s leaders. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic matters, added that it was the administration’s “very strong view” that it will be hard to keep getting the same level of security and economic assistance from Congress.

 

“’As long as it takes’ pertains to the amount of conflict,” the official added. “It doesn’t pertain to the amount of assistance.”

 

A week ago, with the whole world watching, the Biden pledge was “as long as it takes.” Today, much more quietly, the message is, “We can’t do anything and everything forever.”

 

“Definitely a shift,” observes Elbridge Colby.

 

The State of the Union Address was not the first time Biden used the phrase “as long as it takes” to describe the U.S. policy toward Ukraine. Biden said he told President Zelensky, when Zelensky visited Washington, that, “We’re with you for as long as it takes, Mr. President.” Biden, national-security adviser Jake Sullivan, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and other administration officials have all repeatedly used the phrase “as long as it takes” or variations of it to characterize the U.S. policy toward Ukraine.

 

And now, “as long as it takes” joins “limited incursion” and “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power” as presidential statements that are not meant to be taken seriously or literally. Except this one wasn’t an off-the-cuff rhetorical flourish; this was President Biden making a promise he couldn’t keep on the biggest geopolitical stage imaginable.

 

As noted last week, Vladimir Putin is trying to turn the invasion of Ukraine into a long, bloody war of attrition, calculating that Ukraine will run out of soldiers, arms, and resources before Russia runs out of conscripts and convicts. How do you think Moscow will greet the news that “as long as it takes” doesn’t actually mean as long as it takes?

 

Biden’s unwillingness or inability to accurate describe or articulate his own administration’s policies and positions is manifest in the other big story of recent days.

 

I am glad that John Kirby, the “National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications,” offered a few more details in Monday’s press briefing at the White House about most recent flying objects shot down by the U.S. military.

 

Speaking of these objects, Kirby said:

 

We assessed whether they posed any kinetic threat to people on the ground. They did not.

 

We assessed whether they were sending any communications signals. We detected none.

 

We looked to see whether they were maneuvering or had any propulsion capabilities. We saw no signs of that.

 

And we made sure to determine whether or not they were manned. They were not.

 

We did, however, assess that their altitudes were considerably lower than the Chinese high-altitude balloon and did pose a threat to civilian commercial air traffic. And while we have no specific reason to suspect that they were conducting surveillance of any kind, we couldn’t rule that out.

 

CNN reported a few more details from a Pentagon memo sent to lawmakers on Monday, stating that the unidentified flying object shot down in Canadian airspace on Saturday appeared to be a “small, metallic balloon with a tethered payload below it,” and that the object crossed near “US sensitive sites.” (Considering where it was shot down in the Canadian Yukon territory, I would strongly suspect that those sensitive sites include the Missile Defense Complex housed at Fort Greely, one of the two most important missile-defense bases in the U.S., described as “the only protection America has against an incoming North Korean ICBM.”)

 

Lieutenant General Alexus G. Grynkewich, commander of Air Forces Central, told reporters at the Center for a New American Security on Monday that the U.S. had detected a Chinese balloon in the Middle East region last year, but it did not pass near U.S. military bases there, and it was not clear if it was a surveillance or weather balloon. “He declined to provide additional details but noted that other Chinese balloons have occasionally been detected transiting the Middle East region.”

 

You notice that President Biden has barely said anything about this topic. In fact, Biden hasn’t offered any public remarks since Saturday night. (This was one of the rare weekends Biden was not at one of his houses in Delaware.) Before that, late Friday afternoon, Biden did a joint event with President Lula da Silva of Brazil, where he took no questions. Earlier that day, Biden delivered a speech at the National Governors Association winter meeting, where he took no questions. The day before, Biden delivered a speech at the University of Tampa, where he took no questions.

 

This afternoon, President Biden will give the keynote address at the National Association of Counties conference in Washington, D.C. Wanna bet whether he takes questions?

 

You no doubt have noticed that Biden doesn’t do many formal press conferences anymore, and he rarely does sit-down interviews.

 

Yesterday, a reporter asked Kirby the very fair question, “Because it’s so unprecedented, should the public be hearing from the president directly on this?” Kirby responded:

 

I have — we have been, I think, as transparent as we can be. I won’t speak for the president’s personal speaking schedule. But, I mean, he has been deeply engaged in every one of these decisions. He has been kept informed, including as of this morning, on what’s going on with recovery efforts. And he’s very much staying on top of the issue and directing his team to make sure we are properly consulting and briefing not just members of Congress, but state leaders as well. And, of course, you know, we’re also doing what we can in the public sphere.

 

The White House staff has good reason to not trust Biden speaking off the cuff about a matter as consequential and secretive as ongoing Chinese espionage efforts. But when it comes to these incursions and potential vulnerabilities in our ability to defend our airspace, I’m sure the president will hunt for answers . . . “as long as it takes.”