The Biden administration is sending troops to eastern Europe in an effort to deter a Russian invasion of Ukraine. That move has many Americans asking if it’s in our country’s best interest to get involved.
One American who believes the United States should be involved is former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He says protecting Ukraine is vital to our country’s economy. He also thinks that President Biden’s weak foreign policy is enabling Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
As tensions continue to rise in Eastern Europe, the big question remains: Will Putin invade Ukraine?
“No one knows the answer to that question, he may not even know at this point,” Pompeo tells CBN News. “He’s racking and stacking… he’s performing pretty elegant rational math for himself to say, ‘I want to have more political influence, more control in my near abroad.’ He feels still that the Soviet Union was a great thing and he wants to restore as much of it as he can.”
So does that mean there is a moral obligation to stop him?
“America has always had a strong belief that we wanted to support other democracies,” says Pompeo. “Part of it’s moral, part of it’s our understanding of human dignity and the value of every human life. Part of it is just plain old importance to American national security. They are their twin pillars.”
Another pillar is the American economy – something Pompeo believes could be directly affected by what happens in Ukraine.
“Almost a third of the wheat, red winter wheat that travels across the world comes out of Ukraine and Russia and goes through the Black Sea, the very thing that has been threatened by Vladimir Putin. These things matter to the global food supply say, if you’re living in the outskirts of Las Vegas, or Bakersfield (California) or in Tennessee, or Georgia, or in the Upper Midwest. You depend on these stable food supplies.”
The former U.S. Secretary of State and CIA Director believes it is the Biden administration that helped create this mess in Eastern Europe.
“Frankly, the United States enabled this and that’s just most unfortunate,” Pompeo tells CBN News. “There’s so many pieces to this. Deterrence is about mindset. It’s about convincing your adversaries that you are serious and determined and so President Biden goes to meet with Vladimir Putin to talk about the fact that he shut down an American pipeline for gasoline in our country, and says, ‘don’t do that, again.’ No other costs imposed.”
There are plenty of folks in America, tens of millions that have no trust in Joe Biden whatsoever, especially after what happened in Afghanistan. Pompeo is concerned.
“I pray that they get it right. I want good things for them. This isn’t about R’s and D’s. This is about America. I hope they get it right.”
Meanwhile, China is watching all of this transpire. Are they seeing weakness coming from the Biden administration?
“Well, of course, they are,” says Pompeo. “The whole world can observe that weakness. Yes, Xi Jinping is doing his math too, not just with respect to Taiwan; with respect to running spies inside the United States.”
It all begs the obvious question: If Donald Trump were still president, would Putin dare even try any of this over in Ukraine? “As a faithful Christian, I can only say I don’t know, but I can tell you that he didn’t,” Pompeo tells CBN News.
Despite tough words on Biden’s handling of Putin and Russia, he does like the decision to go after ISIS’s top leader this week.
“The world is safer as a result of him no longer being part of it, so congratulations to the Biden team for getting that done,” Pompeo says. “It’s not the end. The threat from radical Islamic terrorism remains, but it’s always good when you can, in a way that we did, reach out, take down leadership of these terror networks. You make it more difficult for them to bring that terror to our homeland.”
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at CBN
