Key Points
- During his first year in office, President Biden failed to nominate a Ukraine Ambassador.
- Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has put 8,500 U.S. soldiers on heightened alert in case Russia oversteps.
- “It is a horrible time for the U.S. to not have a Senate-confirmed ambassador in Kyiv,” said Brad Bowman, former defense adviser.
Well, this may be a serious problem.
In a turn of events that President Biden and his administration almost certainly never thought would blow up in their faces so spectacularly, Russia is seemingly getting ready to flex on Ukraine and the Biden White House never nominated a Ukrainian ambassador.
Uh-oh.
Now, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has put 8,500 U.S. soldiers on heightened alert in case, well, in case things get messy.
“I want to provide some facts on these preparations that will reinforce our commitment to NATO and to the NATO Response Force and increase our readiness,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said. “Secretary Austin has placed a range of units in the United States on a heightened preparedness to deploy, which increases our readiness to provide forces if NATO should activate the NRF or if other situations [develop].”
“Other situations.” That’s another Biden uh-oh.
“President Biden has undermined the U.S.-Ukraine relationship by failing to even nominate an ambassador to Ukraine—it is a dereliction of duty and contributes to the instability we’re seeing unfold today,” Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, told the Washington Free Beacon.
“The United States only has a deputy chief of mission in Kyiv, career foreign service officer Alan Purcell, who was appointed in May 2021,” WFB reports. “Without an ambassador, the Biden administration has conducted the majority of its diplomacy from Washington, D.C., causing confusion as the stand-off with Russia escalates. Biden said last week a “minor incursion” by Russia would likely be tolerated. This prompted fierce pushback from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who responded in a tweet saying, “There are no minor incursions.”
“It is a horrible time for the United States to not have a Senate-confirmed ambassador in Kyiv,” said Brad Bowman, a former Senate defense adviser. “A year into the Biden administration, there is zero excuse for the White House’s failure to nominate someone.”
“Deputy chiefs of mission can be incredibly effective, but there is simply no substitute for an ambassador,” Bowman added. “The Senate can be slow in confirming nominees, but you can’t blame the Senate if you haven’t even nominated someone. This borders on diplomatic malpractice by the Biden administration.”
Where’s that much touted “foreign policy experience” Joe was always going on about?
