Despite four years of sustained hysterics about the supposed Russian-compromised nature of his presidency, Donald Trump’s administration carried out a variety of policies to shore up Europe’s eastern flank, bolster U.S. military strength relative to Russia’s, and weaken Russia’s coercive power generally. Yet six months into President Joe Biden’s term, we’ve seen the opposite effect: The sources of the taunts and tough-talking on Russia have been remarkably conciliatory to Vladimir Putin.

By waiving sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline mere weeks before his meeting with Putin, Biden buckled. It is not just that he surrendered to Putin a monumental victory and the upper hand going into the June 16 meeting in Geneva. It is that the move reveals a profound error in Biden’s judgment about geopolitical realities and portends worse moves to come.