I know Congress needs to be involved to actually declare war, but there have been a number of times where something was kicked off by presidential authority alone.
If Biden wanted to, could he start a conflict against Russia without congressional approval. If not, what approval would he need? If so, what would be the theoretical limitations to his power and military authority?
I am already assuming people would want some definition of what “conflict” would mean in this hypothetical scenario. So let’s say it means Biden authorized US troops at the Ukrainian border and had them launching shells into Russia.
Those people in the unconstitutional and unregulated organization called “president’s administration” in Russia (which de facto took over all the important functionality from parliament, the federal council etc since around 1996) sometimes consider themselves very smart and sensitive of irony. They are also very superstitious.
Well, like people capable only of stealing and petty intrigues and achieving something at 10x the normal cost usually are.
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this was their inspiration.
(While V and Z likely just meant “east” and “west”, since В and З when carelessly drawn can be mixed up more easily, if the left part gets covered in mud or something.)