Does Joe Biden know what he is saying?

Not to the Russian press, which had a field day mocking his statements about the Colonial Pipeline cyber-attack, which is paralyzing the East Coast and now leaving empty gas stations in the U.S. 

According to this tweet from RT News, a Russian state propaganda outlet:

Well this is REALLY clear... ЁЯШСЁЯЩДhttps://t.co/pCKcrDw0ja

— RT (@RT_com) May 10, 2021

And well, who is to argue with their logic?

Here's what Biden actually said, according to the New York Post:

"I'm gonna have a conver — I'm going to be meeting with President Putin and so far there is no evidence based on, from our intelligence people, that Russia is involved. Although there is evidence that the actors' ransomware is in Russia. They have some responsibility to deal with this," Biden told reporters at the White House.

So on the one hand, there's "no evidence" the Russian state is involved in this cyber-attack, but on the other, Russia is "still responsible" for it.  Sound like a plan to get the Russians motivated to catch the crooks who did this, assuming they really are in Russia, which is far from certain?

Biden hasn't even shared the intelligence he has with them, which, given, the low grade of U.S. intelligence on Russia, might not be good intelligence.  It's possible it's bad intelligence, actually, given the kind of personnel they are now hiring, based on two CIA call-to-wokesters hiring ads, which the Russian press mocked gleefully.

The potential problem is that hackers disguise the origins of their attacks to avoid apprehension, which has happened in the past.  That was precisely the problem in the purportedly North Korean hacks on Sony Pictures headquarters in Los Angeles in 2014, and it certainly would be in a ransomware attack, which involves thieves.  Whatever intelligence Biden is getting likely needs to be looked at closely in a release of it for actual pros to look over, which might include Russia's pros, which, according to the Russian state press, Biden hasn't done.

TASS, the Russian state news agency that attempts to report the news more like the Associated Press or Voice of America (rather than the inflammatory RT), reports that Russian officials say Biden can report the crime any time, and he hasn't.  Maybe he should, if for nothing else, then to see what happens.

In May 2020, the Embassy advised that Washington can directly contact the Russian National Coordination Center for Computer Incidents. "At the moment, the Embassy has no information about requests for assistance from the American side," the statement said.

Roll the dice, Joe.  At this point, what's to lose?

He'd just rather say Russia's responsible, even as he has "no evidence" the Russians are involved.

The Russkis, make no mistake, are capable of all sorts of things, including miasmas of lies, so there's no need for delusions about them. 

But Biden's approach, which has provoked so much scornful mockery from them, is also not without consequences.

First, it might help if Biden's serious, and he should be about this matter, to work with the Russians to find out who really did this instead of cast blame first.  Smart people, at least, would do it that way, saving their blame for when it doesn't matter.

Second, the inchoate accusations complicate Biden's diplomacy.

Biden claims he's going to sit down with Putin and play Mr. Strong Guy and force Putin to do what he wants on the cyber-front, which is apparently to pin the crime on...someone...in order to take Biden's chestnuts out of the political fire he's in.  (This is exactly what he tried to do with Mexico, pressuring President Andrés Manuel López-Obrador to use Mexican troops to halt the migrant surges from Central America after he issued an open invitation to let them in.)  He's got some pattern on this one, and it doesn't go down well in either country 

Putin sees through it and isn't biting.  Buried in this TASS piece with the following headline is evidence of a humongous Biden-grade diplomatic blunder:

Biden confident he will meet with Putin

Smell the sarcasm?  I do.  Here's the money quote down near the bottom of the story:

The US president added that he will be meeting with the Russian president.

On April 13, Biden had suggested in a phone call with Putin a summit meeting be organized in a third country within months. Later, Biden explained he had suggested a meeting be held in the coming summer in Europe, when he comes to Europe to attend the Group of Seven and NATO summits in mid-June.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the US' hostile steps towards Russia complicate the analysis of the situation for making the decision on a meeting with Biden.

It sounds as though Biden has queered it for that desired meeting, where he can show himself to be Mr. Tough Guy with Putin as his foil over those Colonial Pipeline accusations.

You'd think he'd think these things through if he wants his meeting with Putin.  Instead, he gave Putin an opening to refuse, and he probably won't be meeting Putin as he desires now.  He had his chance, and he's likely blown it.

It goes back to the old Bob Gates saying about Biden: "I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades."

Just ask the Russians. 

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License.

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