Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer told Newsmax on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely isn't bluffing but "posturing and reminding" President Joe Biden "not to go down this escalation path."
The U.S. has been tracking Russian warships and aircraft that are expected to arrive in the Caribbean for a military exercise in the coming weeks, a show of force as tensions rise over Western military support for Ukraine, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
The ships also are expected to make port calls in Venezuela and Cuba, as Russia establishes a Western Hemisphere military presence that the senior Biden administration officials said was notable but not concerning. The exercise, which will be monitored by the U.S. military, will involve a "handful" of Russian ships and support vessels, the two officials said.
"I don't believe Putin is bluffing," Shaffer told "The Chris Salcedo Show."
"With that said, I don't think he's actually working to be aggressive. I think he's posturing and reminding the West as best he can, Joe Biden, that, hey, you don't want to go down this escalation path. It won't end well.
"And unlike [Ronald] Reagan, and I listened to Reagan's speech at Pointe du Hoc, the 40th anniversary versus Biden's speech, Reagan called out the Russians, but he said as much as you're evil, I want to talk. Biden didn't do that.
"Biden didn't mention the Jews, their right to self-defense. He only talked about Ukraine and doubling down on the aggressive action.
"One thing has been completely unreported is that Joe Biden sent a note to Putin. Putin said this the other day in his press conference. Nobody's asking questions about what Biden said to him ... but somebody's got to be asking questions about that."
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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