Will Ukraine escape a mauling by the Russian bear?
The US State Department has ordered families of embassy staff in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev to leave, and President Joe Biden is considering whether to deploy thousands of troops to the Baltics.
In what looks like a lesson learned from the Afghanistan fiasco, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been working nonstop since November, holding feverish talks with foreign ministers around the world to try to build an international coalition to deter Russian president Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine. In the meantime, Russia has moved ground forces numbering more than 100,000 troops to the border, including the deployment of fighter aircraft and missile systems.
This isn’t the first time in recent years that the US has had to confront a crisis involving the two countries, after Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. The question is, will the current face-off have a different outcome?
For the Biden administration, this is set to be the greatest test of its foreign policy approach since the Afghanistan pullout — although this conflict is much more significant, because it could have a domino effect on NATO allies. Meanwhile, China and Iran are taking notes. Whatever happens, it will have real ramifications on the international stage.
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