Biden Should put his Money Where his Mouth Is

US president Joe Biden has accused Russia of committing genocide in Ukraine with the caveat that legal experts will have to ultimately determine whether the situation actually legally constitutes genocide. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed Biden’s statement but pointed out that Ukraine urgently needs delivery of heavy weapons. One may surely wonder why NATO nations have so far for the most part refused to deliver badly needed heavy weapons to Ukraine? Of course there are cynical calculations at play, the West is not ready to arm Ukraine for an offensive to liberate all occupied territories due to fears of sparking WWIII and a nuclear war. Those fears are unwarranted and based on miscalculations and misreadings of the cynical and coldly calculating Vladimir Putin who ostensibly has undergone a metamorphosis and become “an irrational madman”. The reality is rather that while the Russian war effort is one big fiasco, the Russians are succeeding in deterring NATO by playing on Western miscalculations and misreadings and as a consequence the suffering of the people of Ukraine will be prolonged. By invading Ukraine, President Putin has made Western leaders shake in fear of WWIII and nuclear war. Arming Ukraine with heavy weapons will certainly not lead to WWIII or nuclear war but will rather shorten the war in the Ukraine as the Russian occupiers will be kicked out faster than will otherwise be the case. If President Biden truly believes that genocide is taking place in Ukraine then surely he cannot continue to cynically refrain from providing Ukraine with heavy weapons.