Northern Missouri Congressman Sam Graves says he’s very worried about the crisis building as Russia carries out military exercises along the border of Ukraine.
Graves, a Republican, sees vulnerability in the United States’ foreign policy.
U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Tarkio, represents 36 counties in northern Missouri (file photo courtesy of Congressman Graves’ office)
“And I fault President Biden. This is where I get political, because I think he has handled this thing extraordinarily wrong,” Graves says in an interview with KFEQ. “And he walked away from our allies in Afghanistan, left hundreds of Americans behind in that disastrous pullout.”
That, according to Graves, is why Russia is flexing its muscles on Ukraine and China is flexing its muscles on Taiwan.
“It’s because they see weakness right now in the United States and that’s what the president is projecting and you can’t put out these deadlines or draw lines in the sand and then let our opposition cross them.”
Graves says Russia wants Ukraine for its natural resources.
He charges Biden has displayed weakness, which Graves claims is similar to how President Obama handled Russia’s takeover of Crimea. Graves adds Biden has tipped his hand too much.
“That’s one of the criticisms I have with the administration, too, is you don’t telegraph your playbook. You don’t tell them what you’re going to do or how you’re going to do it and what conditions that you’re going to do this or that under to your enemies or to your opposition,” Graves says. “I wouldn’t necessarily call Russia an enemy, but they’re definitely our opposition, our opponents, in this process and you don’t telegraph that.”
Not all conflicts among countries are on the battlefield anymore. Graves expects a propaganda war or, rather, sees a continuation of the propaganda war already underway, spread using the most sophisticated methods available through social media. Graves worries that U.S. residents have become too gullible to false information spread through social media by the country’s enemies.
“A lot of this stuff that’s put up on social media is just garbage information,” according to Graves. “It’s designed to steer people in certain directions and create distrust and create divisions and get the country all worked up and we walk right into it.”
Graves says all sides are too willing to believe anything put out on social media.
By Brent Martin of Missourinet affiliate KFEQ in St. Joseph
Copyright © 2022 · Missourinet
