Weakness Invites War
 
This morning, we all woke up to the news that Putin "pulled the trigger."  Overnight, he ordered an unprovoked attack on Ukraine.  How did we get to this point?  Why did Vladimir Putin feel he could get away with a savage attack on Ukraine now?
 
We know the inconvenient truths, but many of our fellow Americans are just now waking up.
 
Virtually every nation in Europe now depends on Putin's oil and natural gas.  Most of these socialist countries have waged war on their own energy industries in the name of climate change.  (Thank you, Greta Thunberg!)  In doing so, they have allowed a foreign dictator to determine their future. 
 
John Kerry's reaction today to the outbreak of war was his concern that it would increase emissions.
 
Unfortunately, as is often the case with too many "trends," America wasn't far behind Europe.  (See below.)
 
When Donald Trump was in office, America was energy independent.  We didn't need a drop of oil from anyone.  But one of the first things Joe Biden did when he took office was to shut down our pipelines, while approving Putin's pipelines.
 
He also shut down new U.S. drilling and put us back in the terrible Paris Climate Accord.  Now we're buying oil from Russia, feeding Putin's war machine. 
 
Biden also declared "climate change" as the greatest national security threat facing the country.  Does anyone believe that nonsense today?  Why did anyone believe it before?
 
Speaking of nonsense, far too many American presidents allowed our socialist European allies to dodge their NATO defense obligations.  Donald Trump demanded that they pay up, and left-wing politicians attacked him for it.  But now we see just how weak NATO is, and Putin sees it, too.
 
Here's another truth that millions of people still deny:  Under a strong America First president like Donald Trump, the dictators of the world were afraid to act against America's interests.  Under our current aging and weak president, the world's dictators believe they have at least three more years to do whatever they want.  Dark days are ahead.
 
My friends, I want to be very clear about this: The Biden Administration has failed in the number one thing they said they were trying to do, which was to deter this attack. 
 
They watched for weeks as Putin massed an army around Ukraine, and they did virtually nothing.  In fact, the Biden White House killed tough sanctions against Russia that congressional Republicans tried to pass a few weeks ago.
 
Whatever else happens from here on, this is another foreign policy failure of the Biden/Harris Administration.  You can bet that communist China and Iran are watching.  Chinese warplanes violated Taiwan's airspace just a few hours ago.
 
By the way, I talked to a liberal friend who reads my daily report, and he said, "Ok, Bauer:  What would Trump do now?"  My response was simple:  If Trump were president today, Putin would not have risked invading Ukraine today.
 
Sadly, this is another tragic reminder that weakness, not strength, invites war.
 
 
 
A Nuclear Threat
 
In his remarks announcing today's invasion, Putin warned the West that any intervention on behalf of Ukraine risked "consequences greater than any you have faced in history."  Most observers interpreted that statement as a threat to use nuclear weapons in retaliation.
 
Here's a little reminder for you.  After the 2020 election, Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the Pentagon and demanded assurances from General Mark Milley that he would stop any attempt by President Trump to use nuclear weapons. 
 
This was a constant theme throughout his presidency – the crazy, warmongering, tough Trump was going to get us into a war, and he couldn't be trusted with the nuclear codes. 
 
Well, we have the exact opposite of "tough" in the White House today, and we're at much greater risk of nuclear war.
 
Does anyone think it's just a coincidence that Putin seized Crimea under Obama/Biden, seized nothing under Trump/Pence and is now seizing the rest of Ukraine under Biden/Harris? 
 
Does anyone on the left see the pattern here?  It's called war through weakness and peace through strength.
 
 
 
You're Going To Pay
 
Can you imagine the effect on global warming from all those Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers rolling into Ukraine?  Does Putin not care about global warming?  Of course, he doesn't. 
 
But the West's obsession with global warming brought us to this moment, and now you're really going to pay for it.
 
During yesterday's White House press briefing, it was pointed out to Jen Psaki that gas prices in California were already above $6.00 a gallon in some places, even without a full-blown war in Ukraine.  But Psaki didn't back down.  She insisted that "Standing up for our values is not without cost." 
 
Feel better now?
 
I suspect voters will remind Joe Biden and congressional Democrats about the "costs" of his failed policies this November.  Polling shows that 58% of Americans will blame Biden for rising gas prices.  They already believe his policies are making inflation worse.
 
The left has been saying for decades that rising global temperatures are a crisis.  But rising gas prices are a crisis for many hard-working families.  And it is a geopolitical crisis that has empowered tyrants around the world for far too long.
 
 
 
What Biden Should Have Said
 
President Biden addressed the nation this afternoon.  As expected, Biden announced a slate of new sanctions, mostly aimed at Russian banks and oligarchs.  Here's what he should have said:
 
"Today, I am taking steps to reverse decisions I made at the beginning of my presidency.  I have just spoken with the prime minister of Canada and we are immediately restarting the Keystone XL pipeline, securing hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil from our neighbor to the north.  And we are immediately suspending all purchases of Russian oil.
 
"In addition, I am ordering the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon to secure the border.  We cannot take the chance that terrorists and foreign operatives could be crossing our border now that war has broken out in Europe.
 
"And we're sending additional military aide to our European NATO allies to ensure that Putin goes no further.  But we're doing so on the condition that all European nations fully fund their NATO defense obligations." 
 
"I am also putting other adversaries on notice.  Do not make the mistake of thinking that this is an opportunity to be exploited.  The United States is fully prepared to protect our allies in Israel and Taiwan."
 
At least that's what a strong president would have said today.
 
 
 
Reagan's Warning
 
In his farewell address, Ronald Reagan warned that we weren't teaching our children about the greatness of America and the reality of the world.  Well, this is a teachable moment.  Today's news invites discussion at the dinner table. 
 
So, I urge parents and grandparents to help your children and grandchildren understand the nature of the world.  It has always been this way, and until Messiah returns, it will always be this way. 
 
Tell them that Vladimir Putin is not some aberration.  There is a similar man leading North Korea.  There is a similar man leading communist China.  There is a similar man leading the Islamic Republic of Iran. 
 
There are those around the world whose impulses are to rule rather than to govern, to treat people like cattle rather than free citizens.  Remind them that genocide is not just something to read about in history books.  There are concentration camps in communist China today.
 
This is a good time to remind older children and grandchildren who may not have liked Trump's style that they never saw headlines like this when he was president. 
 
Trump destroyed ISIS.  He took out Iran's terror mastermind, General Soleimani.  He told America it was time to end our dependence on Russia and China.  He put in place a long overdue military buildup, and he secured our borders. 
 
Under Trump's tough leadership, Americans worried about the "tone" of some of his tweets.  Now they have to worry about people just like them in a modern European nation being handed guns and told to defend their neighborhoods from enemy troops.  Those tweets are looking pretty good at this point.