Two weeks before his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Joe Biden says he’ll press Putin on human rights abuses.
This is an error. Rather than push for abstract values promotion, which have virtually no chance of bearing fruit, Biden would be far better served by focusing on tangible U.S. interests. Presidents for the past several decades have been failing to learn this important lesson.
In the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, President Bill Clinton pushed for the expansion of NATO eastwards. The severely weakened Russian Federation had lost the majority of its conventional military strength in the USSR’s breakup. Its navy was a collection of mostly rusting hulks. Its tank force had been exposed as fatally inferior when American tanks sliced through Soviet-T72 tanks like butter in the Persian Gulf. Its air force was antiquated.
Clinton sought to mollify Russian skeptics in a 1996 speech when he said, “By reducing rivalry and fear, by strengthening peace and cooperation, NATO will promote greater stability in Europe, and Russia will be among the beneficiaries.” Russian leaders were angry that NATO was advancing toward its borders but were powerless to do anything about it. Over the next two decades, much of the old Soviet Warsaw Pact alliance had become outright NATO members, increasing the balance of power evermore in the West’s favor. Far from reducing rivalry and fear, however, NATO’s continued drive east fostered both.
As Russia began recovering from its economic devastation, it progressively strengthened its military. No longer weak and powerless, Russia developed the wherewithal to push back in service of what it considered its regional interests. Many in the United States and Europe regarded these Russian advancements as direct threats. Instead of seeking to develop a stable relationship with Moscow, Western leaders reacted by getting tougher with Russia.
This “get tough” mentality, however, has not generated positive outcomes for the U.S. On the contrary, it has produced more trouble. Continuing to apply antagonistic measures against Russia have likewise predictably resulted in tensions and a troubling series of escalating actions.
In the Trump administration, and early in Biden’s term, the U.S. has tried a number of firm measures against Russia in an attempt to moderate their behavior or produce a more constrained Kremlin. It has accomplished the opposite.
In response to Putin’s alleged poisoning of a former Kremlin spy in the U.K., Trump expelled 60 Russian diplomats from the U.S. on March 26, 2018. Three days later, Russia followed suit with a predictable tit-for-tat response kicking 60 American diplomats out of Russia. Far from curtailing Putin, he was again alleged by Western governments to have poisoned a Kremlin critic, Alexei Navalny, in August of last year.
U.S. and NATO officials continually warn Russia against aggression in Ukraine, increase its own arms sales to Kyiv, and expand exercises between U.S. troops and Ukrainian soldiers. Russia responds by increasing the number of its own exercises, issuing its own counter-warnings, and deploying greater forces on Ukraine’s doorstep. Far from cowing Moscow and making the Kremlin rethink its actions, Russia has become more assertive.
The Biden administration’s insistence that it will offer “unwavering support” to defend the “territorial integrity” of Ukraine does nothing to deter Russia. Instead, it feeds historical fears of Western invasion and strengthens Russia’s determination to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. Instead of spending capital in a vain effort to coerce or compel Russia to bend to our will, Biden would have a far better chance of success strengthening strategic stability between Washington and Moscow.
There are a number of issues where Biden and Putin can work together to benefit both countries. These include new or strengthened arms control measures, increasing cooperation against global terrorism, and bringing a halt to practices that succeed in driving Russia and China into an increasingly cooperative anti-American posture.
Nothing is going to happen quickly, diplomacy takes time, but Biden can arrest the downward trend in relations with the only superpower that has the nuclear capacity to destroy our country. This mutually assured destruction, however, successfully deters an unprovoked Russian attack against our country. Biden is safe, therefore, in engaging in hard-nosed diplomacy that reduces tensions and increases the chances that U.S. interests are successfully served.
Daniel L. Davis is a senior fellow for Defense Priorities and a former Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army who deployed into combat zones four times. He is the author of “The Eleventh Hour in 2020 America.” Follow him @DanielLDavis1.
