The 101st Airborne could be a threat to Russia against using a false flag dirty bomb scenario.
Biden to Putin, "You think the Ukrainians are a problem with our midgrade weapons? If you use a dirty bomb you'll face a small force of Americans with highgrade weapons! F with us on this and you'll lose territory so fast you won't know where the front is!"
Of course, this would all be back channel chatter as you wouldn't want to push Putin into a corner and force him to lose face. Then he would be incentivized to escalate. But by placing the 101st nearby and "bluffing/not bluffing(?)" you create a credible threat in the Russians mind as to what could really happen as the 101st is really there.
This is just speculation, with no foundation of knowledge. But I do believe that there is some back channel communications between all government leaders regarding a variety of situations that could occur.
Regards,
Doug
I heard we offered to turn over obiden on a silver platter, hog tied with an apple shoved down his throat; putin refused and is quoted as saying, "why the **** would I want that piece of ****? You elected that ***hole. That mother ****** is your problem, not mine".