A number of top security officials reportedly are involved in discussions with Biden as he weighs deploying 3,000 to 5,000 U.S. troops to Eastern Europe and the Balkans in reaction to a potential invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The president has pledged that if Russia further invades Ukraine, the United States "will impose swift and severe consequences on Russia with our Allies and partners."
Bob Maginnis says Ukraine is just the kind of distraction Biden wants.
"Look at his problems. Inflation is out of control; the southern border is a mess; he's about to lose the Congress. I don't see anything good coming out of the White House," says the senior fellow for national security at Family Research Council.
Maginnis is concerned Biden may have advisors urging him to get involved in a war.
"I think that there will be people advising him to do precisely that …. If he feels as if he can't dig himself and his party out from the major problems that they've created by bad policy, they may revert to 'wag the dog,'" he offers.
But the FRC fellow doesn't see that as a wise decision, considering the United States' diminished military presence, especially in Europe.
"We don't have the infrastructure. We don't have the forces to stand up against the phalanx that Putin has put in place," Maginnis warns. "That would be very dramatic and perhaps would doom the forces that we send in there."
Russia has amassed an estimated 100,000 troops near Ukraine's border and launched a series of war games in the region.
