It was all quiet on the western front.

Then Joe Biden took office.

Now the western front is preparing for World War III. It’s his legacy, warfare everywhere, including the Midde East.

He never should have abandoned Afghanistan the way he did.

After years of dithering, and retreating, Biden, stumbling out the door of his pathetic presidency, last week authorized Ukraine’s use of U.S. supplied missiles that can strike deeper into Russia.

In the jargon of death and destruction, the missile units are called the army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMs. Ukraine made quick use of them.

Biden, the lamest of lame duck presidents, is apparently seeking to leave office with a bang rather than a whimper. He’s a tough guy now as he heads out the door.  Hence the rockets.

It is too bad he was not tough enough to stop the war before it started when in 2022, he talked about a Russian “minor incursion” into Ukraine as opposed to a full-scale invasion. And when the Russians did invade, Gen. Mark Milley, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, predicted it would be over in a weekend with a Russian victory.

Up until now, Putin was able to invade neighboring countries without much of a response from the U.S. or NATO. Then President Barack Obama shrugged when Putin invaded Georgia in 2008 and again in the Crimea 2014.

And while the U.S. did respond when Putin invaded Ukraine, the initial response was puny.

The missiles, which raises the ante in war supply efforts between two antagonists, was Biden’s belated response to Russia’s deployment of thousands of North Korean troops into the battlefield.

They were sent to the Russian front to make up for Russia’s heavy manpower losses in the seemingly senseless an endless war with Ukraine.

It was too little too late to make much of a difference in the three-year-old war that neither side can win, but that neither side can stop.

But it did ramp up Russian president Vladimir Putin’s threat to go nuclear, at least in the tactical sense.

Putin can fire rockets into European NATO-member countries as easily as Ukraine fires U.S. rockets into Russia. And then what? World War III?

After all, under NATO an attack on one NATO-member country is an attack on all NATO countries. So, a Russian missile attack on Poland or Slovenia or Romania or Albania is an attack on the U.S.

Biden so far has dodged media questions over the issue. He has also not spoken about it to the American people.

And one wonders if he discussed the issue with Donald Trump during their meeting at the White House. Trump has yet to publicly address Biden’s decision to up the ante. Which is curious since Trump promised to end the war upon assuming office, if not before.

So, with Biden at the helm, it is no wonder why European NATO nations are gearing up for war.  They are in the front lines should Putin seek to lash out at countries supplying the Ukraine with military hardware.

Germany, a key NATO ally for the first time since the Cold War is updating its military preparedness with plans for military conscription, stockpiling, rationing and the construction of bunkers. “Russian aggression has completely changed the security situation in Europe,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, said.

Finland and Sweden, the two newest members of NATO, along with Norway and Denmark, have updated World War II and Cold War civilian guidance documents in the event of Russian aggression and the outbreak of World War III.

The documents, online and in print, provide advice on stockpiling food, water, medicine and other essentials in preparation for emergencies, like war.

The question raised is what Putin will do now that Biden has allowed Ukraine to use American made long range missiles to openly attack the Russian homeland.

Did Biden make the right decision during the dying days of his presidency, or is it another Afghanistan disaster, this time mor deadly?

While Trump has remained silent, Donald Trump Jr. as not. The new president’s son said that Biden and the military industrial complex “want to make sure they get World War Three going before my father has a chance to create peace and save lives.”

Somehow, Jan. 20 cannot get here soon enough.

Peter Lucas is a veteran political reporter. Email him at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com.

Ukraine’s military practice landing as the 141st Separate Infantry Brigade operates last week in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. (Photo by Nikoletta Stoyanova/Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks Friday. (Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)