In the 1960s, Democratic presidents John F. Kenndy and Lyndon B. Johnson launched the United States into the Vietnam War, albeit without true justification based on our national interests and the faux argument that communist China was about to consume much of Southeast Asia – the so-called Domino Theory. Unfortunately, something similar might now happen in the last two months of President Joe Biden’s tenure in the White House. It will be up to Republican President-elect Donald Trump to clean up after another Democratic president.
Today, the situation in Ukraine is morphing into a 21st century version of that same Vietnam-era scenario. Starting in 2021, the view from Moscow was that Biden was weak, given our 2021 debacle of a withdrawal from Afghanistan, which prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine, a land most Russians believe is part of their land and a necessary buffer from the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Rather than deterring that conflict, President Biden waited until Moscow’s forces invaded in February 2022 before rallying international support to Kyiv. Now, almost three years later, according to The New York Times, Kyiv is losing the war and Moscow is doubling down, even threatening to use nuclear weapons if the United States and its NATO allies become directly involved in the fight, such as by supplying Ukraine long-range weapons that strike inside Russia.
In response to this grave picture, our lame-duck leader evidently responded to a modern Gulf of Tonkin-like scenario by ramping up lethal aid and allowing Kyiv to use our deep-strike weapons against Moscow. The trigger for Biden’s decision appears to be Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region of Russia, which is earning a strong counterattack from the Kremlin.
The historic parallel with Vietnam seems obvious. In 1964, then-President Johnson responded to the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which was evidently skewed to create the perception of an attack. Specifically, the American destroyer USS Maddox was operating close to North Vietnamese territorial waters, which triggered a response from Hanoi’s torpedo boats, whereby both sides exchanged fire.
The manipulated outcome of that incident led to Congress’ passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave President Johnson the authority to deploy our armed forces to South Vietnam and thus open war with North Vietnam that ended thanks to Republican President Richard Nixon, albeit at the tragic cost of 58,220 American lives.
Contrast the actions that led to our participation in Vietnam to the Ukraine situation today. Team Biden failed to deter the Russian attack in 2022 and then convinced Congress to supply Ukraine with more than $100+ billion in lethal and other aid. At this point, we’ve given Kyiv advanced tanks, sophisticated anti-missile systems, jet fighters and the long-range tactical missile systems (ATACMS), which can reach 188 miles. Until recently, Biden limited the use of our ATACMS to targets inside Ukraine. Now, Kyiv has the White House’s go-ahead to use these missiles to strike deep inside Russia. This is obvious mission creep and will enrage the Russians and perhaps broaden the war much like what happened in Vietnam.
Biden’s decision comes in the wake of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s trip to the U.S. in September to pitch his “Victory Plan.” That plan, according to press speculation, includes the U.S. granting permission for Kyiv to employ ATACMS against Moscow’s strategic assets.
Granting Zelensky the go-ahead to use our long-range missiles comes in the wake of Biden’s failed Ukraine strategy. Specifically, Team Biden expected the demands of the Ukraine war would energize our industrial base to then replenish our depleted arsenals and degrade the Russian military. Unfortunately, neither of these aspirations took place. Rather, our arms industry is slow to respond to the demand and Russia’s Putin has his country on a war footing. In fact, Moscow is ready for an extended and perhaps expanded war in Europe; and worse, Putin recruited his authoritarian allies – China, Iran and North Korea – to the fight directly with thousands of North Korean combatants and the others shoring up Moscow with lethal aid.
Where does this leave the United States? Well, our lame-duck president is handing President-elect Trump another Democratic war. Further, it begs the question: How might Russia respond to Biden’s release of long-range U.S.-supplied weapons striking deep inside Russia?
Ukraine was a war of choice for Putin and one Biden could have prevented had he acted with the right mix of deterrence measures. However, our president just cemented his legacy as an agent of war. Hopefully, President Trump will quickly end the needless killing and prevent what threatens to become a broader, perhaps world war.
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