Putin’s invasion of Ukraine eclipses Biden’s first State of the Union Speech

by Vijaya Chandrasoma

The malevolent Russian invasion against Ukraine has had almost exclusive coverage in international, TV and social media. Though the Ukrainians have been fighting fiercely and bravely, it is only a matter of time before Russia’s superior force will subjugate Kiev, Mariupol and other major Ukrainian cities, many of which have already fallen and millions of innocent civilians, men, women and children, suffering intolerable deprivations.

History shows us that the aggression of nations with superior military force against weaker nations, aggression with motives of self-interest cloaked in sanctimonious hypocrisy, will initially meet with success. But in the fullness of time, they will fail, their greed and cruelty exposed to the world. A weaker nation, with its citizens continuing to fight for independence, its leaders willing to die for freedom, will always succeed. Many will die, incredible privations will be endured maybe for decades. But the ultimate rout of the aggressor is inevitable.

Ukraine and its President have shown this fearlessness in extraordinary abundance. In a recent video address to the British Parliament, exhibiting the epitome of defiance, President Zelensky echoed Winston Churchill’s famous speech at that august chamber on the evacuation of Dunkirk during WWII: We shall fight on the beaches …we shall fight in the fields and in the streets…we shall never surrender. He reiterated the determination of the Ukrainian people “to defend their motherland to the end” as the Russian invasion ends its second week of indiscriminate murder and mayhem. An invasion which has already compelled over two million Ukrainians to seek refuge in neighbouring countries like Poland and rendered at least one million more homeless and destitute. Lives and property destroyed in the most brutal invasion in Europe since WWII.

Zelensky’s inspired address was met with a standing ovation from the MPs and the Lords in the Palace of Westminster.

The vast range of financial and import sanctions imposed by the US and the EU against Russia, including personal sanctions against Putin and his billionaire oligarchs, while “they will damage the Russian economy, will not obliterate it”. Unfortunately, it is also likely that these harsh sanctions will make Putin, who cannot afford to lose this war, double down and escalate the violence against Ukraine, with no concern for civilian casualties. Russian targeting of schools, hospitals and churches, war crimes, have become routine. The more desperate Putin gets, the more likely he will threaten the use of chemical, biological, even nuclear weapons. And he may not be bluffing. His erratic behaviour of the past six months, his delusions of grandeur of regaining the glory of the old Soviet Empire, are causing psychiatric suspicions that he is unhinged and losing his mind.

Another real danger is China’s low-profile endorsement of Russian aggression.

If not for the invasion of Ukraine, President Biden’s first State of the Union Speech on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, six days after Russia invaded Ukraine, would have taken centre stage in international media.

For the first time in US history, two women, Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, second and third in line for the presidency, sat behind the President of the United States during a State of the Union address. A unique and remarkable image of history that has been too long in the making.

Biden spent 12 minutes of the duration of his SOTU address of 61 minutes on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He reserved his harshest remarks against the aggression of President Putin, and his highest praise for President Zelensky and the heroic determination of the Ukrainian people to fight the aggressor to the death.

Significantly, the Republican section of Congress was not empty, attended as it was by many Republicans, including Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, minority leaders of the Senate and the House, respectively. The Republican side of the chamber included two radical right QAnon* maniacs, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, who, predictably, spent the entire hour of the speech booing and heckling.

The same Taylor Greene who recently slammed the House Committee presently investigating into the January 6 insurrection as being Speaker Pelosi’s “Gazpacho Police”. What the ignorant Congresswoman from Georgia probably meant was “Gestapo Police”. But who can tell? Maybe these Trumpsters feel threatened by the delicious cold tomato Gazpacho soup of Democrats, on the grounds that its red colour is evidence of their espousal of communism. A conspiracy theory no more outlandish than her previous claims that Democrats are “Satanic Pedophile Cannibals” who eat babies, and that the deadly fires in California were caused by Jews (Rothschilds) firing lasers from outer space.

In his address, Biden did not touch on the courageous defiance of 13 Ukrainian soldiers guarding little Snake Island about 50 km. off the southern tip of the Ukrainian mainland on the Black Sea. When warned by a Russian warship that there will be unnecessary deaths unless they surrendered, the response of these brave Ukrainians, which has since gone viral on the Internet, was: “Russian Warship, Go F… Yourselves”.

Initial reports indicated that all 13 soldiers were killed. However, it is now believed that they are alive and well, held as prisoners in Russia, as heroes in Ukraine. Their words, “Russia, Go F… Yourselves” have become the proud Ukrainian rallying war cry.

This defiant response from a completely outnumbered and outgunned army illustrates the courage and patriotism of the Ukrainians. All Ukrainian men and women are now soldiers, being trained for battle. President Zelensky has also joined the army, no trace of bone spurs. He has been photographed on many occasions in military fatigues, talking and eating with Ukrainian soldiers. Perhaps photo ops, but the image of the President of the country, in battle fatigues, mingling with its citizens is pretty inspiring. Much more so than the ridiculous image of a criminal, egomaniacal sociopath holding a Bible upside down outside a church to prove he is a Christian.

Biden continued, “Six days ago, Russia’s Vladimir Putin sought to shake the foundations of the free world. But he badly miscalculated.

“He thought he could roll into Ukraine, and the world would roll over. Instead, he met with a wall of strength he never anticipated or imagined.

“He met the Ukrainian people.

“From President Zelensky to every Ukrainian, their fearlessness, their courage, their determination, literally inspires the world”.

Biden also stressed the need for unity in America, when he said, at the beginning of his address, “Tonight, we meet as Democrats, Republicans and Independents. But most importantly, as Americans. With a duty to one another, to America, to the American people, to the Constitution. And an unwavering resolve that freedom will always triumph over tyranny”.

“Always” is an optimistic word in the current context of today’s American politics, with the Republican Party still under the control of a defeated and disgraced wannabe tyrant, whose peddled lies about a rigged election 16 months ago are still believed, against all evidence, by 60% of his Party. The midterms next November are currently predicted to yield control of both the House and the Senate to the Republicans led by Trump. Control that will enable Republicans to rig future elections not only by voter suppression and gerrymandering, but by changing the rules so that any future president will be elected not by the will of the people but by the manipulation of the state legislatures. Significantly, this process has already begun in Republican controlled battleground state legislatures like Texas and Georgia.

Such corruption of the electoral process, the cornerstone of American democracy, will bring to an end Lincoln’s dream of the Grand Experiment of “government of the people, by the people, for the people”.

With his decision to invade Ukraine, Putin counted on taking advantage of an already polarized America and attempt to cause a rift in NATO. He has failed, at least where NATO is concerned, as that organization has shown complete solidarity under the leadership of President Biden.

As for American unity, fingers crossed, but there seems a little light bringing clarity and sanity at the end of the Trump tunnel, a tiny chink in the Republican armour as the former president’s acts of criminal fraud and treason are slowly but surely being uncovered.

Biden stressed that “our forces are not engaged, and will not engage in conflict with Russian forces in Ukrainian soil…Together with our allies we are providing support to the Ukrainians in their fight for freedom. Military assistance. Financial assistance. Humanitarian assistance”.

“When the history of this era is written, Putin’s war against Ukraine will have left Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger”.

President Biden then addressed the pandemic and the economy. His handling of these crises has seen his approval rates plummet to the 30%s. Unfairly, considering he inherited a failed economy, the challenges of a global pandemic, and now, an illegal invasion of a sovereign ally in Europe.

“The pandemic has been punishing. And so many families are living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to keep up with the rising costs of food, gas, housing and so much more”. Biden talked about the extensive American Rescue Plan that was implemented last year, saying “few pieces of legislation have done more in a critical moment in our history to lift us out of the crisis”.

“And it worked. It created jobs. Lots of jobs, our economy created over 6.5 million new jobs last year, more jobs created in one year than ever before in the history of America”.

Biden talked about the economy which “grew at a rate of 5.7% last year, the strongest growth in nearly 40 years, the first step in bringing fundamental change to an economy which hasn’t worked for the working people of this nation for too long”.

The President said, “Reagan’s ‘trickle-down’ theory has only led to weaker economic growth, lower wages, bigger deficits and the widest income and wealth gaps between those at the top and everyone else in nearly a century”.

He talked about the urgency of the passing of his signature Build Back Better bill, currently stalled in the Senate. Though the Democrats have a wafer-thin majority in the Senate, the legislation has been delayed not just by the intransigence of the Republicans, but obstruction by two Democratic Senators from Red States, Arizona and West Virginia, who are more concerned about their re-election than the welfare of the country. He urged the Senate to pass this bill, which will cost less than Trump’s tax cut of 2017 to billionaires and corporations, so that he could continue with his efforts towards building a socially and economically just America.

Biden touched on his science-based and successful strategy to combat the virus, his plans of reducing health care costs, child care, gun control, funding the police, border control, and many other social programs, which will become a reality after the Build Back Better plan is implemented. Long-delayed legislation which will provide tremendous assistance to working poor, address climate change and rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.

He concluded by saying that “the State of the Union, is strong, because you, the American people are strong. We are stronger today than we were a year ago. And we will be stronger a year from now than we are today”.

*QAnon is a political conspiracy theory that later evolved into a political movement. It originated in the American far-right political sphere. QAnon centers on false claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as “Q”. Wikipedia