As Russian soldiers, tanks, fighter jets, armored vehicles, and artillery units continue to amass along Ukraine’s border, Kyiv is desperately seeking U.S. support. The pro-Western democracy is already straining under the burden of Russian invasions that created enclaves in Crimea and in its southeastern provinces. But now, it must fear a further Russian invasion that may come before Christmas.
Ukraine wants more anti-tank weapons and pledges of specific U.S. sanctions that will follow any new Russian invasion. To prevent this, President Joe Biden must make clear that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline will never pump a cubic foot of gas if there is an invasion. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top oligarchs must understand that they will also lose access to the United States and its financial system and that the Russian banking sector will be denied access to international markets.
These threats would have sufficient bite to make Putin think twice. Instead, Biden is offering a weak hodgepodge of vague waffling words. His refusal to do what is necessary is endangering Ukraine far more than any phone call former President Donald Trump had with the country’s leader.
After Biden’s video conference with Putin on Tuesday, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that Biden “has shown over the course of the past eight months that he will do what he says he’s going to do in response to Russian actions.” This is laughably false. Biden’s repeated response to Russian actions has been to appease Putin’s aggression.
Biden’s appeasement has not gone unnoticed in the Kremlin, which has accordingly escalated its demands.
Biden’s most extraordinary statement of weakness came Wednesday when he signaled he would weaken NATO’s deterrence posture in order to make Putin happy. Biden explained that he hopes to be “having meetings at a higher level, not just with us but with at least four major NATO allies and Russia, to discuss the future of Russia’s concerns relative to NATO writ large and whether or not we can work out any accommodations when it comes to bringing down the temperature along the eastern front.”
Biden is obsequiously bowing to Putin’s demands that NATO agree not to expand further east, that NATO suspend reconnaissance and strategic deterrence flights off Russian borders, and that Putin be the only one allowed to deploy intermediate-range missiles in Europe.
Biden is full of bluster, but he is once again confused and blinking aimlessly as Putin outsmarts him.
Biden should be offering clarity in face of these threats. He could and should explain that NATO air operations are a response to far more aggressive Russian air actions. He could and should explain that the democratic choices of nations such as Finland, Georgia, Moldova, Sweden, and Ukraine to gravitate toward the West are none of Putin’s business.
This is not to say that dialogue with Putin is impossible or even undesirable. Russia is a great power possessing significant military strength. Putin’s voice matters and must be heard. But the enduring lesson for the West, shaped by more than 20 hard years of experience, is that Putin senses and takes advantage of his adversaries’ weaknesses. The Russian leader respects strength of action bound to clarity of purpose. Biden is a weak and verbose leader who has no clue how to handle Putin.
It is no surprise, then, that Putin so obviously now holds the strategic initiative. Both Ukraine’s and the U.S.’s allies have every reason to be afraid that the leader of the free world is not up to the job.
