What we know for certain is that Zelensky met with Biden soon after he was inaugurated in 2021, and that caused a 180-degree face turn on Zelensky’s part. While he was elected as the “peace president” who was supposed to bridge the divide between the Russian-majority eastern Ukraine (he swept the votes in those regions) and western Ukraine, Zelensky almost immediately began to ramp up all sorts of inflammatory rhetoric, like joining NATO.

Understandably, this spooked Russia, who then spent the rest of 2021 trying to deescalate the situation. This culminated in the US-Russia Summit in June 2021, during which the Russian diplomatic team sent hundreds of pages of proposal and presented various options to address their security concerns. It was ignored by the US. In less than two months, first in August 2021, the US would send Stingers and Javelins to Ukraine, followed by another shipment in December 2021. Two months later, Russia invaded Ukraine.

However, let’s not give Trump any slack here. Trump was the one who resumed the military aid to Azov after it was paused under the Obama admin. He was also the one who pushed Merkel to build a massive LNG terminal for Germany to purchase American LNG instead of Russian gas. When both Trump and Merkel left offices, the project was not pursued further, until… Europe sanctioned Russia and Nord Stream was bombed. We should also note that the construction of Nord Stream 2 was completed around the same time in 2021, but its certification process kept getting “delayed” with no end in sight. This undoubtedly added further doubts for the Russians on whether the US is interested in a good faith de-escalation. With all the events happening leading up to February 2022, it may very well have convinced the Russians that the US always had intended on an aggressive provocation. Later events would prove this reading of the situation correct.

So, there really isn’t a difference between Trump and Biden when it comes to implementing the strategic policies of the US. What sets them apart is Biden’s willingness to be ruthless and decisive about it. Ending Europe’s prosperity, who cares? As Victoria Nuland once said, fuck the EU, right? One million Ukrainian casualties, who cares? Starting new wars with every continent on the planet, who cares?

But the most disturbing part is that, now that Biden has already crossed the line, it means every president that comes after him, Democrat or Republican, will no longer have to worry about taking their masks off anymore. It’s now a race to the bottom, a race to see who is the most hawkish president (who can deliver a better profit making scheme for the capitalists like Biden has accomplished). There is no turning back from here. The mask has been taken down. Millions will die.