The US now wants out of the Ukraine war. The signs are pretty obvious. On Monday, Washington Post reported ‘the US ambassador to Russia has left his job and departed Moscow’. Ambassador John Sullivan was appointed by the Trump administration back in December 2019.
US Ambassador: Resigned or Fired?
Typically, US ambassadors to Russia serve for about three years. However, John Sullivan has been asked to vacate his post just after 2½ years of service. Now, this development signals a shift in USA’s foreign policy vis-à-vis Russia and the Ukraine crisis.
An insipid military package?
Furthermore, USA’s latest military aid package for Ukraine was delivered without much hullabaloo, in order to not attract unnecessary media limelight and in turn, antagonize Russia. As the Center for Strategic and International Studies put it, the package was full of “mysteries” and indicated that the US was playing a long game rather than focusing on addressing Ukraine’s urgent needs. Under the $3 billion package announced in late August, equipment will take months or even years to produce and deliver. Now, frankly speaking, we don’t even know whether Ukraine will continue to exist after 1 year in its present form.
Read More: ‘Be with us, or you won’t exist on world map,’ Putin’s final offer to Erdogan
White House vs Zelensky
Earlier, in August, it was reported by New York Times that American officials, President Biden in particular, were much more worried about Ukraine’s leadership in private than they admitted in public. The report said, “There is deep mistrust between the White House and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine — considerably more than what has been reported.” Zelensky’s firing of his aides, especially the leader of Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency as well as the country’s prosecutor general hadn’t gone down well with the Biden administration.
Read More: Finally, Biden breaks up with Zelensky
This followed incessant calls by US foreign secretary Antony Blinken for having “peace talks” with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Blinken in June had cried hoarse about the fact that Putin had not given diplomatic attention to US since the war broke out.
US on knees before the Kremlin
Blinken said, “We have not seen any interest on the part of Vladimir Putin in engaging in any kind of meaningful diplomatic initiative.” Now, only a true nincompoop person like Blinken could have given this statement, after imposing almost a million sanctions on Putin. In June, when Russia mulled over shutting down US embassy in the country, the Biden administration lost no time in addressing the concerns of the Kremlin.
The impending change of leadership in the US embassy in Moscow makes it clear that US has now pressed the panic button. It desperately wants to engage the Russians for resolving the 8-month-old crisis, which has pushed the West on the verge of an economic and political upheaval. Russia is purposely stretching the war to prolong the crises of the West, and this can well spell doom for Biden and company. Before the mid-terms, Biden and Democrats would love to end the crisis in Ukraine and take credit for the same. Effective peace talks with Russia will also help US shore up its credibility in Europe and Africa. Biden is fast realizing Ukraine and its comedian dictator Zelensky have become a great liability for Washington, that must be gotten rid of, in order to avert a catastrophe.
