Joe Biden has been confrontation-averse since the day he took office choosing the path of least resistance over realization of his stated policy goals time and time again.

On domestic issues such as his signature Build Back Better Act, desperately needed voter rights protection legislation, preservation of Roe v. Wade and do-or-die progress on climate change, Biden has chosen to throw in the towel rather than risk confrontation with his political adversaries, some within his own party at every turn. The net result is that we are poised to see the greatest rollback of social progress in US history on his watch, in fact in his first term. But in the international arena the stakes could be exponentially higher.

Vladimir Putin now chooses this moment to launch the most violent and aggressive assault on Western Europe since World War II. He has made two big gambles. One was that taking Ukraine would be as easy as taking Crimea. He has lost that gamble already. The second bet was that Biden and NATO could be frozen into inaction with a nuclear threat. That bet he won.

We have no idea what active duty Pentagon commanders are advising, that’s classified. But retired military commanders are speaking out publicly and they are almost categorically urging a more robust response on an urgent basis. Predictably Biden and NATO are ignoring them.

In Warsaw Biden spoke powerfully, but carried no stick at all. From a public relations standpoint the trip was an efficient presentation. The images of NATO leaders standing in unity, Biden visiting US troops and comforting refugees were transported around the world. But there were no announcements of new defense aid to embattled Ukrainian fighters. Biden spoke passionately about horrors of the war raging across the border, but had no new news for the Ukrainian officials about the weapons they pleading for and dying for the lack of.

Putin is Provoked

It would seem that the great fear of Western leaders is provoking Putin and that a great price may be paid to avoid doing so. All as Putin’s full military contingent ravages the second largest country in Europe. But Putin is already undeniably provoked. At least in his own mind and that is the only mind that matters to Putin. Putin knows full well that the U.S. and NATO allied nations are supplying weapons to Ukrainian fighters and that those weapons are decimating his army. We are doing it, he knows we are doing it and we are feeling his wrath. He is provoked, there is no un-ringing of that bell.

If Biden or other NATO leaders had any remaining misconceptions about mollifying Putin by at least pretending to stay out of the war raging on their doorstep those misconceptions were, or should have been shattered by the cruise missile strikes in Lviv, 200 miles to the east of Warsaw as they were speaking. The West may not want war with Putin, but Putin wants war with the West and the West can only ignore it for so long.

Ukraine is Defending Europe

There exists at this moment an East-West divergence of urgency within the NATO alliance. The Western continent mainly the United States, Canada and arguably Iceland are earnest, conscientious members to be sure, they do not however feel the same visceral degree of urgency that members on NATO’s eastern flank feel in light of unfolding events.

The closer you move within the NATO alliance to the Ukrainian war zone the greater the sense of urgency for real-time defensive solutions. Poland made headlines in Western media by offering to facilitate the transfer of 40 year old Russian Made Mig-29 fighters to Ukraine. It was the U.S. that blocked the transfer. There are a lot of sub-plots there but it clearly highlighted the divergence of urgency between the U.S. and Poland. The U.S. is on the other side of world from Ukraine, Poland is on the other side of the border. It says a lot.

The U.S. White House and its spokespersons present a lot of reasons for not providing more sophisticated arms to Ukraine. Some technical, some political. The real reasons may actually be unspoken or clandestine, as is the U.S. tradition. One thing is clear, NATO is still determined to perpetuate the charade to the world and to themselves that they are not directly involved in this conflict. When in fact they know better. In any case Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians are right, they are fighting a battle for their lives and for everything the U.S. and NATO officials say they stand for. NATO is talking the talk, Ukraine is paying the price with the blood and lives of its sons and daughters.

The Test

The Russian cruise missile attack on the petroleum facility in Lviv as NATO officials gathered in Warsaw was more than just a message to NATO Heads of State gathered some 200 miles away. It was a probe, a test. What Putin wanted to know was how would NATO leaders react to a direct threat to their territory and more to the point, to their lives? There was no reaction at all, NATO leaders remained mute and inert. You can be certain Putin has noted that.

A great deal is being made about Biden’s curiously offhanded call for the end of Putin’s grip on Russian power. But what Biden did not say, what no NATO Head of State said was far more troubling. Not a word was spoken by any NATO official about an immediate plan to stop the slaughter of innocent men, women and children in Ukraine by invading Russian forces. When will NATO stop protecting its own interests and start formulating a plan to protect everything they say they stand for? The clock is ticking and innocent people are dying in staggering numbers.

Marc Ash is the founder and former Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News. On Twitter: @MarcAshRSN

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.