I'm John Batsch with Professor Seri Ploki, Ukrainian professor of history at Harvard University.

His new book is the Russo-Ukraineian War, The Return of History. It is the spring of 2021, the summer of 2021,

Russia continues to run troops up to the Ukrainian border and then pull back,

but leaves its equipment in place.

There's talk back and forth between now President Biden and Vladimir Putin.

They meet in Geneva.

There's talks by the director of the Central Intelligence Agency in Moscow

warning Putin not to do this and

and Putin talking about his demands.

There's taunting going on in Ukraine all that

spring, summer, and fall of 2021.

But Mr. Biden makes it clear again and again the Professor reporting

that no U.S. troops are going to Ukraine,

no weapons are going to Ukraine.

Professor, this is a colossal misjudgment of Putin.

Was it purposeful?

Did it serve NATO's purpose to pretend that Putin wasn't a deceiver and a predator?

The US Intelligence did a fantastic job really reporting to Washington on the mud in the Kremlin on the plans for the war,

even predicting, if not the day and the hour,

then at least the week when the war would start.

And the Mr. Biden's administration in the White House made an unprecedented move of

releasing almost in real time the intelligence information on those things that they were getting.

...