On the evening of Aug. 3, 1991, the cruise ship Oceanos, with 571 passengers onboard, most of whom were South Africans, struck a reef. The vessel slowed and began taking on water about a mile from South Africa’s Indian Ocean coast. What happened during the next 12 hours before the ship sank the following day is one of the most irresponsible actions by a captain and his crew in maritime history, violating their duty to ensure the safety of their passengers – they immediately abandoned ship, leaving the passengers to save themselves. Fortunately, a group of the ship’s entertainers took control and organized the evacuation of the ship before it sank. Miraculously, all survived.
As one passenger later told the media, “It was disgusting. The captain, safety officer and other senior crew got off as quickly as they could, so there was nobody to show us what to do during the rescue.” Later that evening, during an interview, the Greek captain incredulously attempted to defend his actions claiming, “When I order ‘abandon ship,’ it doesn’t matter what time I leave. Abandon is for everybody. If some people like to stay, they can stay.” He went on to suggest his early departure was so that he could supervise operations from shore.
Obviously, abandonment by others to whom we have entrusted our fate, especially in times of imminent danger, can leave us with a gut-wrenching sense of hopelessness and despair. Oceanos passengers were fortunate the leadership void left by their ship’s captain was quickly filled to effect a safe rescue. However, in the face of President Joe Biden’s order to abandon the U.S. Embassy in the Ukraine, we are now seeing, for the second time in less than a year, his pursuit of a foreign policy of abandonment when it comes to the fate of our friends and allies.
Having abandoned our Afghan allies last year in a chaotic withdrawal done completely ass-backwards – extracting U.S. military personnel before all American and non-American civilians could be evacuated – Biden has now undertaken another abandonment approach in Ukraine as it awaits a possible invasion by the Russian bear. Biden has ordered the voluntary departure of the families of U.S. State Department personnel assigned to our embassy in Kyiv due to an “imminent” invasion. President Volodymyr Zelensky called the order “utterly ridiculous” and another example of “U.S. inconsistency.” Biden’s action undoubtedly has instilled that sense of hopelessness and despair among Ukrainians whose fate now remains uncertain.
While Biden has threatened severe repercussions in the form of economic sanctions and the repositioning of NATO forces should Moscow invade, it is doubtful the threat is sending chills down Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spine. When the U.S. implemented sanctions against Russia in 2014 after its incursions into Crimea and eastern Ukraine, Moscow turned its attention to insulating its economy against future sanctions. This policy, dubbed “Fortress Russia,” is being analyzed for ways to bypass it.
But even Biden’s recent announcement he has put 8,500 U.S. military forces on alert as he consults with our European friends and will augment NATO with troops is most likely seen by Putin as showmanship. Taunting Ukraine, a Russian oligarch is boasting it will only take Russia 48 hours to conquer the country.
If Putin decides to invade, a growing consensus is it will begin with a massive and lethal cyberattack against the U.S. to distract it. Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council voted 10-2 (Russia and China voting no) to hold an emergency meeting at the request of the U.S. At that Jan. 31 meeting, the Russians absurdly accused the U.S. of bringing “nationalists, radicals, Russophobes and pure Nazis” to power in Ukraine as the U.S. accused Russia of baselssly blaming the West to “fabricate a pretext for attack.”
It is interesting to see how “tough guy” Biden is using our military. This is the same Biden who refused to serve in the military in his younger years, obtaining five deferments during the Vietnam War, all while playing sports without any issues. Unwilling to be a tough guy back then, he seeks to play one now by placing our military in harm’s way.
Ironically, Biden may soon experience some abandonment karma himself as DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison may depart before the 2022 midterm elections to avoid getting blamed for the expected disastrous results for Democrats.
For all intents and purposes, Putin determined the cut of Biden’s jib by his disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. He therefore knows the American president is a man he can manipulate. Even a recent U.S. poll bears this out reflecting that while a 60% majority believe Biden to be a nice guy, only 37% see him as a strong leader.
The adage “nice guys finish last” is exactly where Putin perceives Biden will end up in their contest of wills over Ukraine. In preparation for this, Putin has already inserted special forces there who await their leader’s signal to possibly trigger a false flag attack justifying a Russian invasion.
Unfortunately, there is another adage Biden supporters are recognizing all too late, “You reap what you sow.” Having voted for incompetence, they will soon see what their actions have wrought. We can only pray our ship of state, headed for another foreign policy iceberg marked “abandonment,” does not suffer the fate of Oceanos.
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This article was originally published by the WND News Center.
