Putin Wants Most of Ukraine, China Willing to Wait on Taiwan, U.S. Intel Chief Says

Haines says world should be prepared for a long war in Ukraine

FILE: Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence.

Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aim is to take control over most of Ukraine while Chinese President Xi Jinping is in no immediate rush to invade Taiwan.

The two issues are at the top of American foreign policy.

Haines told a Commerce Department conference – hosted by Google and the Silverado Policy Accelerator – that U.S. intelligence suggests that Russian forces will be forced to prepare for a long slog in Ukraine because they have been “degraded” in early clashes with the Ukrainian forces.

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She said that there is a consensus that the war will drag on for an “extended period,” and Moscow and Kyiv are not close to negotiating. She said the picture remains grim and Russia’s attitude toward the West is hardening, Reuters reported.

She pointed out that the fighting in Ukraine has been playing out in the country’s east and south.

"Russia thinks if they are able to crush really one of the most capable and well-equipped forces in the east of Ukraine, that they believe that will lead to a slump in the Ukrainian resistance and that will give them greater opportunities," she said, according to Voice of America.

DON’T MISS: STOP THE WAR, UNITE FOR PEACE RALLY

TRENDPOST: Long forgotten in the Western media was the U.S. and NATO’S pledge not to expand into Eastern Europe following the deal made during the 1990 negotiations between the West and the Soviet Union over German unification.

Therefore, in the view of Russia, it is taking self-defense actions to protect itself from NATO’s eastward march.

As detailed in The Los Angeles Times back in May of 2016, while the U.S. and NATO deny that no such agreement was struck, “...hundreds of memos, meeting minutes and transcripts from U.S. archives indicate otherwise.”

The article states:

“According to transcripts of meetings in Moscow on Feb. 9, then-Secretary of State James Baker suggested that in exchange for cooperation with Germany, the U.S. could make ‘iron-clad guarantees’ that NATO would not expand ‘one inch eastward.’ Less than a week later, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to begin reunification talks.

“No formal deal was struck, but from all the evidence, the quid pro quo was clear: Gorbachev acceded to Germany’s western alignment and the U.S. would limit NATO’s expansion.”

China’s Xi

Haines said that despite China’s bluster about Taiwan, its president “continues to prefer doing that peacefully as opposed to using military force,” VOA News reported.

"There are not indications that he is currently intending to take Taiwan by military force even as he is planning for the potential,” Haines added.

TREND FORECAST: We have pointed to numerous articles that explain Taiwan is simply no match for the much larger and deadlier Chinese military. China spends 25 times the amount Taipei does on its defenses. China also has a hundred times as many ground-force troops as the island.

China will spend $229.47 billion on defense in 2022, according to reports.

Even with the military support from the U.S. which has not won a war since World War II and cannot even win against third-world nations, such as Afghanistan, Taiwan would be outmatched by its larger rival.

And while the U.S. and its allies have sent billions in munitions and money to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion... while the alliance said they would defend Taiwan if China were to attempt to militarily take it over, in reality, we forecast it is more talk than action. READ MORE HERE