Is Joe Biden trying to start a war in Ukraine?

That's certainly how it would appear from his recent pledge of "unwavering support" to Ukraine's leaders as they face off with Russian ground troops in Eastern Ukraine.

Russia last week began deploying 25 battalion tactical groups to Ukraine's borders, along with main battle tanks, rocket artillery, and self-propelled howitzers.

These are not light weapons used in the type of on-again, off-again guerrilla skirmishes Russian and Ukrainian forces have conducted since the 2015 ceasefire.  These are weapons of a red-hot ground war.

U.S. forces in Europe, EUCOM, went from high alert last week to the highest possible, "potential imminent crisis," the N.Y. Times reported.  But what is the lead story in our nightly news?  Of course!  Georgia's allegedly "racist" election law and the pullout of Major League Baseball from Atlanta.

This country is led by a geriatric president who can barely climb up the stairs of Air Force One without stumbling, who has a gigantic chip on his shoulder when it comes to Russian president Vladimir Putin.  Biden's personal hatred for Putin, never on display during his eight years as vice president, seems to have been created whole-cloth by the Democrat party narrative that President Trump was Putin's best friend.

In other words, it is irrational, borderline insane.  And it could be leading us to war.

Defense secretary Lloyd Austin, a Deep-Stater who presided over years of endless wars as commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and later, as commander of U.S. Central Command, called his Ukrainian counterpart last week to pledge U.S. support if the border stand-off erupt into a hot war.

According to the Pentagon, Austin "reaffirmed unwavering US support for Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and Euro-Atlantic aspirations," and "condemned recent escalations of Russian aggressive and provocative actions in Eastern Ukraine."

That is precisely what the SecDef should be doing when a NATO ally faces an imminent military threat.  But wait!  Ukraine is not a NATO ally.

Are Biden and the SecDef saying they are preparing to put the lives of U.S. soldiers on the line to defend Ukraine?  On what legal basis?  We have no treaty with Ukraine.

German chancellor Angela Merkel stepped into the fray as well, "demanding" in a phone call with Putin on Thursday that Russia "unwind" its buildup in Eastern Ukraine "in order to de-escalate the situation."

And that is precisely what she should have done when another member of the European Union faced an imminent military threat.  Oh, wait.  Ukraine is not a member of the European Union.

The Ukrainians for their part are itching for war.  During the 2014–2015 conflict, they could field fewer than 10,000 troops against the Russian irregulars in the Donbas.  Since then, and largely with U.S. help, they have built up a ground army of 255,000 active-duty troops — the second largest standing army in Europe, after Russia.

While there may be a lot of posturing going on here — with Putin and Ukrainian president Zelensky maneuvering toward negotiations rather than all-out war — the huffing and puffing of Biden and his war-mongering SecDef are just pouring fuel onto the fire.

Ukraine map by Peter Fitzgerald, CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

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