| | After these remarks, Putin and [[Xi]] spent the rest of 2021 trying to disabuse Biden of the “China squeeze” [[meme]]: This mutual effort culminated in the Xi-Putin ‘no limits’ friendship summit of that year. If the advisers had been paying attention however, they would have threaded a long history of Russo-Chinese [[rapprochement]]. But no, they were [[ideological]]ly frozen in the view that the two were destined to be eternal enemies. | | After these remarks, Putin and [[Xi]] spent the rest of 2021 trying to disabuse Biden of the “China squeeze” [[meme]]: This mutual effort culminated in the Xi-Putin ‘no limits’ friendship summit of that year. If the advisers had been paying attention however, they would have threaded a long history of Russo-Chinese [[rapprochement]]. But no, they were [[ideological]]ly frozen in the view that the two were destined to be eternal enemies. |
| − | In a Decemberv 30, 2021 telephone conversation, Biden assured Putin that “[[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] had no intention of deploying offensive strike weapons in Ukraine”. However, Foreign Minister [[Sergei Lavrov]] revealed that when he met regime foreign minister [[Antony Blinken]] in Geneva in January 2022, the [[U.S. Secretary of State]] pretended he had not heard of Biden’s undertaking to Putin on December 30, 2021. Rather, Blinken insisted that U.S. medium-range missiles could be deployed in Ukraine, and that the U.S. might be willing to consider limiting their number. | + | In a December 30, 2021 telephone conversation, Biden assured Putin that “[[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] had no intention of deploying offensive strike weapons in Ukraine”. However, Foreign Minister [[Sergei Lavrov]] revealed that when he met regime foreign minister [[Antony Blinken]] in Geneva in January 2022, the [[U.S. Secretary of State]] pretended he had not heard of Biden’s undertaking to Putin on December 30, 2021. Rather, Blinken insisted that U.S. medium-range missiles could be deployed in Ukraine, and that the U.S. might be willing to consider limiting their number. |