@humphrey

This is negotiation 101.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/548550-biden-calls-for-dialo...

President Biden on Thursday said he is not seeking a “cycle of escalation and conflict with Russia” and called for dialogue between Washington and Moscow after his administration unveiled a new raft of sanctions intended to punish Russia for its malign behavior.

Biden described the new sanctions as “proportionate” measures designed to respond to Russia for the SolarWinds cyberattack and meddling in the 2020 elections, making good on his pledges to hold Moscow accountable for its actions.

“The United States is not looking to kick off a cycle of escalation and conflict with Russia. We want a stable, predictable relationship,” Biden said in brief remarks from the White House. “If Russia continues to interfere with our democracy, I am prepared to take further actions to respond.”

@Cassiodorus
using funny money created by their computers.
If they were smart they would buy them at a steep discount. Dumping all those bonds at once will cause a temporary depression in the rice. No lasting damage as long as the FED sweeps them all up.

Yes, it would depress the value of the dollar. What would thay gain Russia and China? It would be like they just had a big bond bonfire.

Europe thinks it's a bore because the Europeans like Russian fossil fuels.

As for China, if the Chinese thought Biden was any sort of threat, they could dump their collection of US Dollars and Dollar-denominated assets onto the international markets. You'd see peace talks right away.

@The Wizard

They are blackmailing him.

1) All Ukraine has to do is implement the Minsk accords to resolve the issue with Donbas. They signed the accords and then refuse to implement them. France and Germany seem to understand this, but the UK, the US and NATO are brain dead about this, can't mention facts contrary to their interests.

2) Zelensky ordered a large military build up on the deconfliction line, contrary to the Minsk accords and the recent cease fire agreement. They have been shelling civilians in the Donbas and have received shelling in return. The Western MSM talks about the return fire, but neglects to talk about the build up and the shelling from the Ukrainian military.

3) Zelensky signed a document ordering the Ukrainian military to attack Crimea and to capture it, presumably killing a large number of civilians and Russian and local soldiers. This is a declaration of war against Russia.

4) The election of Biden has been a very destabilizing event for the Ukraine. His obvious bias towards the Nazi infected government in Kiev has been interpreted as a green light to use military force. Biden needed to disavow this immediately. He hasn't.

5) NATO has been enormously destabilizing. They have made it clear that their long term strategy is to incorporate Ukraine into NATO, a really really bad idea. The gating item is that they do not have control of what they consider their own territory. The real solution is for Kiev to implement the Minsk accords and to recognize Crimea as part of Russia. They are far to stupid and dogmatically nationalistic to ever realize this. Instead, they want the green light and military backup to attack the Donbas and Crimea.

Given this situation and the Ukrainian military build up the smartest course for Russia is a large military presence on the boarder of Ukraine. They need to react immediately to any Ukrainian military offensive, as in within hours to avoid bloodshed. Seeing this buildup, the Western press is immediately calling it Russian aggression. This is truly preposterous. Marketing operations is always the first rung on the ladder of war for the US. In fact the US brags to adversaries about this capability.

The current situation could easily get out of hand and escalate. The Pentagon decided wisely not to sent two Arleigh Burke class warships into the Black Sea. The risk here is that some action of these ships could seem hostile and Russia would react by sinking them both within minutes. The Pentagon understands that they are sitting ducks. At that point, our idiot Congressional critters would demand retaliation, and that then spirals to global thermonuclear war. Best to always avoid direct confrontation with another nuclear superpower.

The question really arises, do we have anyone in the Administration who is smart enough and experienced enough to manage foreign relations with adversaries? I think that the answer is obviously no. In this case we need to avoid any interaction with our adversaries. Already Biden has completely screwed up our relations with Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela and pretty much every country in the world that is not a US toady. He has been lead to believe that he can manage foreign affairs of the country. He cannot and he has already screwed up royally.

The key to a peaceful outcome of this Ukrainian crisis is that Zelensky is restrained from doing anything stupid, either by Russian action on the border and in Crimea, or that the US tells him in no uncertain terms that they will not have his back if he initiates hostile military action. I would not count on the US doing the right thing, it almost never does. I do have a great deal of faith in Russia and President Putin. I think that is is very clear that he does not want a military hostilities, and that is very good.