WHO'S IN CHARGE? Biden AWOL After Approving Long-Range Missile Strikes

Jeffery Sachs says White House's decision shows the flaws in the U.S. political system

President Joe Biden gave Ukraine the green light to use U.S.-provided missiles to strike deep inside Russia, and now he’s nowhere to be found to explain to the American people what changed his mind from just weeks ago, Jeffery Sachs, the Columbia University professor, told “Judging Freedom.”

Sachs called the decision “shockingly irresponsible” on its merit because the administration opted against their use just a few weeks ago. But he said it was “especially shocking” for a “lame-duck, not even a lame-duck…a dead-in-the-water administration that has been repudiated to be putting the world at risk in this way.”

He continued, “It’s disgusting.”

“It also shows the profound flaws of our political system: one person, ostensibly — we don’t even know whether it’s him anymore [making the decisions] because we don’t hear from him…he may not be even responsible for this. But in the name of one person — without public debate — on an existential issue” and on a decision that the Pentagon reportedly rejected just a few weeks ago because of the risks, one person could bring the world to the precipice of WWIII, he said.

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NPR, citing a U.S. official, reported that Ukraine fired off seven U.S.-made ATACMS towards a weapons depot in Russia's Bryansk region. The report said the depot is about 70 miles from Ukraine. Russia reportedly intercepted two of the missiles.

The Biden administration believes that it can call Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bluff when he talks about engaging in war against NATO.

Oleksii Reznikov, the former defense head in Ukraine, once joked about the game Washington plays.

“This concern about the next level of escalation, for me, is some kind of protocol,” he said.

Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s top diplomat, noted on Tuesday that the ATACMS were sophisticated weapons and would require Americans to operate, which would mean Washington is providing Ukraine with more than just weapons and intelligence. It would mean its forces are playing an active role in the war.

Sachs told Judge Andrew Napolitano that the Biden administration has made the worst foreign policy decisions he’s ever seen, even with all the other failed administrations.

“I’ve given up, long ago, trying to understand [National Security Adviser] Jake Sullivan and [U.S. Secretary of State] Antony Blinken. They make serially wrong decisions,” he said. “This is another one of them.

TREND FORECAST: The Biden administration thinks that it can read Russian President Vladimir Putin and that the Russian president is, somehow, more bark than bite.

John Bolton, Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, summed up the feeling in Washington in a post earlier on X: “Russia is not capable of waging a wider war period Putin has been bluffing… and Biden has fallen for the bluff.”

Putin said: “If this decision is made, it will mean nothing short of direct involvement – it will mean that NATO countries, the United States, and European countries are parties to the war in Ukraine. And if this is the case, then, bearing in mind the change in the essence of the conflict, we will make appropriate decisions in response to the threats that will be posed to us.”