Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, from President Joe Biden's home state of Delaware, has been called the president's "closest Senate ally" and even a "shadow secretary of state." When he travels abroad, Coons is widely thought to speak for the president. "The fact that I am known to have a close relationship with [Biden] helps me deliver a more forceful message," Coons told Politico last year.
Now, Coons is using his clout to nudge Biden toward sending U.S. troops to fight the war in Ukraine. Last Thursday, he gave the Vandenberg Lecture at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. He said the United States is "coming right up against a Cuban missile crisis," by which he meant there will soon be a "direct confrontation between NATO, the United States, the West, and Russia." Mixing his historical references, he said today is "a 1939 moment," referring to events leading to the start of World War II in Europe.
Coons predicted there will "almost certainly be an incident" in which Russian leader Vladimir Putin "goes too far, either within Ukraine by using chemical weapons or just over the border by claiming an accident in which a cruise missile strikes an arms depot where Americans are unloading Stinger missiles from a C-17 about to go across the border." At that point, Coons said, the U.S. will have to decide whether to send troops to Ukraine. "It is important that in a bipartisan and measured way, we in Congress and the administration come to a common position about when we are willing to go to the next steps and to send not just arms but troops to the aid and defense of Ukraine," Coons said. "If the answer is never, then we are inviting another level of escalation and brutality by Putin. But so far, that is the answer of a majority in Congress and this administration."
Although he put his thoughts in the form of a question, it seemed clear that Coons, who before the Russian invasion opposed sending U.S. troops to Ukraine, is now in favor of troops. That is a position at odds not only with the president but with a large majority of the people. On Sunday, when he appeared on CBS's Face the Nation, moderator Margaret Sullivan asked him flatly: "In some public remarks this week, you said the country needs to talk about when it might be willing to send troops to Ukraine. You said if the answer is never, then we are inviting another level of escalation and brutality by Putin. Are you arguing that President Biden was wrong when he said he would not send troops to Ukraine? Are you asking him to set a red line?"
Coons did not say no. Instead, he said that he and others in Congress and those who advise the president "need to look clearly at the level of brutality" in Ukraine. The U.S., he continued, "cannot turn away from this tragedy." He offered mild praise of his friend, saying Biden's leadership has been "steady and constructive." But he said that if Putin is allowed to "continue to massacre civilians, to commit war crimes throughout Ukraine without NATO, without the West coming more forcefully to its aid," then he worries that "we will see Ukraine turn into Syria."
And then the key line: "Putin will only stop when we stop him."
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...se-biden-ally-pushes-for-us-troops-in-ukraine
Now, Coons is using his clout to nudge Biden toward sending U.S. troops to fight the war in Ukraine. Last Thursday, he gave the Vandenberg Lecture at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. He said the United States is "coming right up against a Cuban missile crisis," by which he meant there will soon be a "direct confrontation between NATO, the United States, the West, and Russia." Mixing his historical references, he said today is "a 1939 moment," referring to events leading to the start of World War II in Europe.
Coons predicted there will "almost certainly be an incident" in which Russian leader Vladimir Putin "goes too far, either within Ukraine by using chemical weapons or just over the border by claiming an accident in which a cruise missile strikes an arms depot where Americans are unloading Stinger missiles from a C-17 about to go across the border." At that point, Coons said, the U.S. will have to decide whether to send troops to Ukraine. "It is important that in a bipartisan and measured way, we in Congress and the administration come to a common position about when we are willing to go to the next steps and to send not just arms but troops to the aid and defense of Ukraine," Coons said. "If the answer is never, then we are inviting another level of escalation and brutality by Putin. But so far, that is the answer of a majority in Congress and this administration."
Although he put his thoughts in the form of a question, it seemed clear that Coons, who before the Russian invasion opposed sending U.S. troops to Ukraine, is now in favor of troops. That is a position at odds not only with the president but with a large majority of the people. On Sunday, when he appeared on CBS's Face the Nation, moderator Margaret Sullivan asked him flatly: "In some public remarks this week, you said the country needs to talk about when it might be willing to send troops to Ukraine. You said if the answer is never, then we are inviting another level of escalation and brutality by Putin. Are you arguing that President Biden was wrong when he said he would not send troops to Ukraine? Are you asking him to set a red line?"
Coons did not say no. Instead, he said that he and others in Congress and those who advise the president "need to look clearly at the level of brutality" in Ukraine. The U.S., he continued, "cannot turn away from this tragedy." He offered mild praise of his friend, saying Biden's leadership has been "steady and constructive." But he said that if Putin is allowed to "continue to massacre civilians, to commit war crimes throughout Ukraine without NATO, without the West coming more forcefully to its aid," then he worries that "we will see Ukraine turn into Syria."
And then the key line: "Putin will only stop when we stop him."
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...se-biden-ally-pushes-for-us-troops-in-ukraine