Putin and Biden, Dueling Imperialists

From Ukraine to Yemen to Afghanistan, the two world leaders cause havoc as the planet reels from a brutal pandemic.

Feb 21

Russian president Vladimir Putin, a despot and war criminal, ordered an attack on Ukraine days after delivering a belligerent speech declaring that “modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia” and accusing Ukraine of being a puppet of the United States. Putin’s brutal assault on Ukraine is inexcusable. There are absolutely no good reasons to bombard civilians. Ever.

Putin’s aggression comes on the heels of weeks of ever-escalating warnings from the Biden administration that Putin planned to invade Ukraine. The alarm-ringing was so shrill that it seemed like an intentional escalation.

On February 10th, Bernie Sanders warned against the drumbeat of war:

"I'm extremely concerned when I hear the familiar drumbeats in Washington, the bellicose rhetoric that gets amplified before every war, demanding that we must 'show strength,' 'get tough' and not engage in 'appeasement'," said Sanders.

In the midst of a worldwide pandemic, it is mind-boggling that global powers are making more war and perpetrating more violence.

Peter Daou @peterdaou

Human history is war, war, and more war. I began my childhood in a war zone, and here I am in my 50s watching another war begin. FUCK WARMONGERS. FUCK IMPERIALISTS FUCK MALES WHO JUST WANT TO KILL.

Voting Pitchfork & Guillotine 2022 @ljmontello

Putin's a right wing authoritarian oligarch overseeing a post Soviet kleptocratic petrol state that discriminates against multiple ethnic minorities & LGBTQ. Just like with Saddam, you can think someone is a tinpot despot while still opposing American style regime change.

Dunk Easy @DunkEasy

@ljmontello How is Putin "bad", exactly?

Mac @GoodPoliticGuy

Russian imperialism is in fact also bad.

Both Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, who preside over extinction-level nuclear arsenals, are wreaking global havoc to bolster their own domestic power. It is sickening and infuriating. As a child of war in the Middle East, I know full well that innocent civilians always pay the price for geopolitical gamesmanship.

Lest anyone pretend Putin is the only bad guy in this cold war redux, Biden is currently starving millions of Afghan children and stealing their money, which is itself a form of violence, and just as deadly as Putin’s bellicose rhetoric and aggression.

Peter Daou @peterdaou

Dear Democrats/liberals: Understand that when you cage children, abuse migrants, drone civilians, enable mass slaughter in Yemen, and starve Afghan children... You lose the moral standing to pontificate against other human rights abusers. #UkraineCrisis #Putin #Biden

Biden is also arming the slaughter of children in Yemen.