An energized President Joe Biden was the one who brought members of NATO together in Brussels, Belgium, for an emergency meeting. Normally, it takes months and even longer to plan and prepare for a NATO meeting.
After the meeting, Biden slipped in a brief press conference. Then, he was off to the European Council’s G7 meeting.
He started off, CNN World reported:
‘[NATO] has never, never been more united than it is today. Putin is getting exactly the opposite [of] what he intended to have as a consequence of going into Ukraine.’
President Biden continued, saying that the most important thing [about NATO] was to “stay unified.” Indeed, that was the theme of his trip:
‘The single most important thing is to stay unified.’
On Putin using chemical weapons, he said
‘We would respond [And] The nature of the response would depend on the nature of use.’
In other words, should Russian President Vladimir Putin decide to use any chemical weapon to attack Ukraine, NATO would respond in kind. How it would respond would be tied directly in proportion to the severity situation.
The U.S. president urged everyone to focus “on what a brute this guy [Putin] is.” Then he spoke about the new sanctions NATO placed on the 300 members of Russia’s Duma [a legislative body].
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not ask for a “no-fly zone” when he spoke virtually to the people gathered in the NATO meeting. President Biden has been adamant about his position, no no-fly zones. What Zelenskyy did ask for was “military assistance and better air defenses.”
‘[W]e would respond. [T]he nature of the response would depend on the nature of use.’
POTUS also touched upon China and the possibility of it linking up with Russia in some way. President Biden claimed that his communication with Xi Jinping was:
‘A Very straightforward conversation. [But they] made no threats.’
However at that time, he made clear that there would be “consequences of Xi helping Russia.”
Then, our president turned to the issue of Ukrainians facing food deserts caused by the Russian bombing incursions. He said that any food limitations in Ukraine could easily tip the world order and cause global food shortages everywhere. In theory, Ukraine’s and Russia’s farms could be the “breadbasket” for all of these countries. Of course, our president knew that America’s plains states contribute substantially to the world mix.
Then, there was the issue of 10 million refugees spreading out across the globe. That was one in four of the entire Ukrainian 40 million population. Our president’s schedule included a visit to the refugees in Poland. President Biden pointed out that was something he often did:
‘I plan on attempting to see those folks … I hope I get to see a lot of people. The thing you look at the most is you see these young children that are in those camps.’
After another reporter asked him about sanctions, the American president was firm in his response. He said that sanctions “never deter.” That is a word reporters use. Instead sanctions cause [increasing] pain:
‘[S]anctions never deter. [They play a part in] increasing the pain…[that is] what will stop him.’
Another reporter asked about kicking Russia out of the G-20 summit, Axios reported. Without halting for a second, the American president replied “my answer is yes.”
After his press conference, he was off to the European Council meeting. Followed by a visit by our POTUS to the border between Ukraine and Poland.
President Biden also broke the news that he welcomed a rematch with “that guy” in 2024.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
