Biden acting like Putin's puppet

 Glenn Reynolds:

Back in 2017, Walter Russell Mead wrote: If Donald Trump “were the Manchurian candidate that people keep wanting to believe that he is, here are some of the things he’d be doing:

• Limiting fracking as much as he possibly could
• Blocking oil and gas pipelines
• Opening negotiations for major nuclear arms reductions
• Cutting U.S. military spending
• Trying to tamp down tensions with Russia’s ally Iran.”

Trump, of course, did none of those things, and indeed the entire “Russian collusion” narrative that the press pushed for his entire presidency has been thoroughly exploded.

But someone is doing these things, right now. I’m talking, of course, about Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., who at his shambolic Wednesday press conference gave Russia the go-ahead to invade Ukraine, though it was quickly walked back by backwalker-in-chief Jen Psaki, his press secretary.

The last time something like that happened was in 1950, when Secretary of State Dean Acheson gave North Korea what appeared to be a green light to invade South Korea. The result was the Korean War. One hopes Biden’s blunder will not bear similar consequences.

But that’s just the latest. Back to Mead’s checklist: Biden has in fact limited fracking as much as he possibly can.

Under Trump, the United States achieved energy independence, becoming a net exporter of oil and natural gas. Gas prices were low. The Keystone Pipeline, furthermore, promised to bring oil from Canada to the US heartland (“ethical oil” activists call it because it doesn’t come from a country dominated by dictators or Islamist enemies). Biden canceled that.

Gas prices have since skyrocketed, and people are unhappy, such that even NPR has noticed the Joe Biden “I did that!” stickers sprouting on gas pumps everywhere as ordinary Americans vent their frustrations. As for energy independence, Biden was reduced to begging OPEC to pump more oil to drive prices down. (OPEC, shockingly, declined.) High oil prices help Russia of course, since it’s a major oil producer.

And while Biden was blocking pipelines at home, he did manage to give US approval to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline connecting Russian gas fields to Europe, giving the Kremlin a huge cash infusion that will strengthen its position immeasurably while making Europe dependent on President Vladimir Putin, who could freeze them out by turning a few valves.

Basically, Biden’s energy policy involves weakening the United States and strengthening Russia.

As for nuclear arms, the Russians and the Chinese aren’t even interested in arms-control agreements. They’re rushing ahead with new and advanced nuclear-weapons programs while Biden looks at canceling similar US programs.
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There is more.

While Biden may not be Putin's puppet, it is hard to see how his policies would have been different if he were.  His energy policies have funded Putin's aggression toward Ukraine and put all of Europe at risk from Russian energy dominance. Biden's Iran policies are a return to the absurdities of the Obama-Kerry deal putting the Islamic religious bigots on a glide path to nuclear weapons.  There appears to be no rational explanation for Biden's position.  Of course, ther was never any rational explanation for the Obama-Kerry deal to begin with.