Biden’s Ukraine Visit Important to Stop Putin – Mike Lawler
February 28, 2023
By Byron Dovey
According to US Representative Michael Lawler (R-N.Y.), President Joe Biden’s secret trip to Ukraine on February 20 sent a clear message to Russia and China.
The message was that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine must be stopped. If not, it could encourage Russia to do the same with other Soviet satellite states.
Why was Biden’s visit important?
“I think it is critically important that Vladimir Putin not be successful in this mission. If he is allowed to succeed, he will not stop there,” Lawler said in an interview. “And I am confident that if he succeeds in Ukraine, he will go into Moldova and other former Soviet satellite countries.”
Lawler emphasized that the visit was significant because it coincided with the first anniversary of the Ukraine invasion. He stated that it was essential to show Putin there was united opposition to his invasion of Ukraine and for violating its sovereignty.
Lawler added that it is “important that we speak with one voice that the United States and our allies around the world continue to oppose Russia and provide Ukraine with the support that they need, militarily and financially, to win this war,” Lawler continued.
Lawler also discussed Putin’s recent announcement that Russia will withdraw from the new START treaty with the United States. This was “just one more example of the irrational behavior that we’ve seen by Putin over the last year plus.”
The START treaty was signed in 2010 between President Barack Obama and his Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and it was the last intact nuclear arms control pact with the United States.
Could there be a new ‘Axis of evil”?
Lawler also stated that the outcome of the Ukraine crisis would have a direct impact on communist China, which he described as America’s “greatest geopolitical foe.”
“What President Xi would do with respect to Taiwan if Russia is to succeed here!” Lawler said.
Lawler believes that China has long been in cahoots with Russia and that they, along with Iran and North Korea, formulate the new “axis of evil.”
“We need to ensure that the actions that we are taking continue to put the United States in a strong position economically, militarily, and from a national security perspective and that we are holding these bad actors accountable for what they are doing around the world to frankly undermine democracy and freedom across the globe,” Lawler said.
