For those who opined that the Great Russian Bear would not attempt to swallow up a tidy morsel known as the Ukraine, well, you swung-you missed; strike one.

For those who stated that “severe economic sanctions” would prevent a Russian invasion, well, you whiffed too; strike two.

And if you are Joe Biden who in 2020, in an effort to bolster his foreign policy chops before the electorate, tweeted: “Vladimir Putin doesn’t want me to be President…If you’re wondering why – it’s because I’m the only person in this field who’s ever gone toe-to-toe with him,” well Joe, wrong; strike three Mr. President. Now shuffle back to your basement dugout and take a seat — you’re out.

Oh, if it was only that easy.

Putin absolutely wanted Joe Biden as president, he waited and then invaded Ukraine on your watch. As with Osama Bin Laden before him, Putin knew all too well that Joe Biden was ill equipped to play geopolitical chess with Russia and thwart its territorial expansion, as Putin has had a ring side seat to utterly ineffective Democratic foreign policy decisions over the last decade.

In 2014 when Russia invaded Ukraine’s Crimea, Obama — with V.P. Biden — issued “economic sanctions”. How did that go, Joe? Russia’s still there and now, more than ever, is rolling in dirty oil revenue, some of which is provided courtesy of your Uncle Sam which since Biden took office has gone from being a net exporter of oil to an importer of almost 3.9 million daily barrels of foreign oil, including Russian petroleum, to meet demand.

Then after Crimea, when Ukraine pleaded with America to send weaponry capable of deterring further Russian incursion, Biden and Barack refused, not sending Ukrainians the sophisticated lethal aid they requested but instead forwarding $43 million of “military equipment” consisting of body armor, binoculars, small boats, and other gear resulting in then-Ukrainian President Poroshenk addressing Congress: “Please understand me correctly, blankets, night-vision goggles are also important but one cannot win the war with blankets; even more, we cannot keep the peace with a blanket.”

It was President Trump who responded years later by selling Ukrainians Javelin missiles and sophisticated weaponry, the very type that is now being used by Ukrainian Defense Forces to defend their freedom from Russian tyranny.

Moreover, despite all of his nonsensical “toe-to-toe” tough talk towards Putin, upon taking office, Biden did just the opposite and waived all U.S. sanctions against the company overseeing the construction of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany, which is intended to bypass Ukrainian Energy Transit Fees of $3 billion a year and therefore further enlarge Russian monetary coffers. This dubious waiver occurred despite bipartisan opposition in Congress and appeals from Eastern European governments which led to claims that the Biden administration was handing President Vladimir Putin a major political victory. Wow, even NBC News reported that fellow Democrats urged Biden to reconsider while the Kremlin called the waiver a “positive signal.” In hindsight, that positive signal proved to be a green light to invade Ukraine.

Biden exudes weakness. Putin respects strength, national unity and steadfastness in purpose, all of which are severely lacking under Biden’s Presidency. While our military leaders are more interested in pursuing woke enlightenment by discharging unvaccinated soldiers, studying critical race theory, the causes of “white rage” and finding ways to create a more harmonious, diverse fighting force which better represents American demographics, Russian school kids are learning to tear down and reassemble AK-47’s blindfolded while spouting love for Mother Russia. I know — I saw it when I went on a cultural exchange to Russia during its annual Military Day Holiday which celebrates the Red Army’s victory over the Nazi’s at Stalingrad in 1942-43.

Yep, even before Biden’s Afghanistan debacle, Joe’s bluster did not exactly have Vlad the Impaler shaking in his sable lined boots. After Afghanistan, however it was obvious to all, including Putin that Biden was and is incompetent and wholly unable to meet the rigorous demands of the presidency.

Last week Biden gave his State of the Union Speech and repeated his tough talk while promising decisive action. Well, Mr. President, the time for meaningful action is before the invasion and not in response to the invasion. If you were able to fully digest Biden’s SOTU word salad, you’d realize that despite all the garnishment, lacking was any real sustenance of something intended to cripple Russia short of a committal of U.S. military intervention and that, my friends, is to permanently strip Russia of the one thing that keeps it military industrial complex in bullets and bombs; its export oil revenue.

You see energy (oil and natural gas) accounts for over 50 percent of Russia’s export earnings in an economy seven percent the size of our own ($21 trillion compared to $1.48 trillion). And while the U.S. became a net petroleum exporter under Trump’s energy policies, under Biden, we now import more petroleum than we export, including 500,000 daily barrels from Russia. What Biden must do immediately is unshackle our enormous energy industrial complex, open the pipelines and let that oil flow thereby freeing our reliance on foreign oil while fulfilling the needs of our European Allies dependent on Russian energy. How are Europeans going to replace Russian oil if not America? Does oil produced in Russia somehow cause less harm to the environment than oil produced in America?

Even Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin urged Biden to reverse his self imposed crippling energy policies stating: “While Americans decry what is happening in Ukraine, the United States continues to allow the import of more than half a million barrels per day of crude oil and other petroleum products from Russia during this time of war…This makes no sense at all and represents a clear and present danger to our nation’s energy security”. I agree with that Joe. I would rather fight this war with oil than bullets and the innocent blood of Ukrainians.

It’s an absolute no brainer so why the pushback against America energy independence and supplying our allies with what they need to battle the great Russian Bear? Don’t know? I’ll fill you in: “The Green New Dealers” that’s who; the ones holding out the Paris Climate Accords as some sort of consecrated text to avoid perceived planet destruction.

Ah yes, the sacred PCA, the holy grail for the prevention of climate change. I have read it. You should too as the devil is always in the details. Let me summarize it for you: How many of you would pay Federal Income Tax if you got to decide how much you owed, you could unilaterally change the amount owed at any time and if it turned out you were wrong on how much you owed or you failed to pay, there were absolutely no consequences to you? Your answer is likely the same as mine: zero. The same holds true under the Accord. Every signatory country sets its own climate emission goals which can be changed at any time, self reports whether its meeting those goals and if such country does not meet those self professed goals, there are no consequences whatsoever other than the utter shame and condemnation of the World. Wow, utter shame of the world community…that’s it…that’s the best you got, John Kerry?

China, India and Russia produce 40 percent of the world’s C02 emissions. Without those three on board, reversal of global warming is doomed. Seven years after the PCA how many of the 192 countries have actually met their climate goals? Exactly one: Gambia. China’s efforts are deemed highly insufficient while India and Russia are deemed critically insufficient. Oh, the shame and utter degradation they must feel.

Does China feel the world’s condemnation over Covid-19? How about tales of genocide against a minority ethnic group of Uighurs? How about its threats to invade Taiwan or the building of air strips in the South China Sea to facilitate the invasion of Taipai or the concentration camps just a short distance from the Winter Olympics? Will China sanction Russia over Ukraine? No, trade is continuing with Russia.

Did the thought of world condemnation deter Putin from taking the Crimea, invading Ukraine, bombing Kiev and killing innocent women and children?

And then there is India which has an estimated 350 million people (greater than our entire U.S. population) who defecate in the open every single day. Before UNICEF targeted India with its 2013 “Put your Poo in the Loo” campaign, featuring an animated piece of human waste chasing its Indian protagonist down the street, the number was over 600 million. An estimated 75 percent of India’s electrical needs are produced by coal. Is there much India can do to reduce its carbon footprint when they cannot even get a third of their people to use a toilet? What does AOC say about that when she is opines about the effects of Cow Flatulence on global warming?

Peace is achieved through strength. Enough of this nonsense. Drill baby drill.