Opinion | The White House’s pathetic response to Putin’s invasion
Well, on Monday Putin sent assembled Russian units across the border into eastern Ukraine. And what was the Biden administration’s immediate reaction? To excuse Putin’s actions and downplay them as nothing more than a minor incursion.
In his address to the nation Tuesday afternoon, Biden finally acknowledged that “this is the beginning of a Russian invasion.” Before then, The Post reported that Putin’s actions had forced the administration “into an uneasy dilemma about whether that constituted an invasion.” One senior administration official “repeatedly refused to say whether Putin’s decision to send ‘peacekeeping’ troops into the two Russian-backed separatist areas constituted a red-line invasion in the eyes of the Biden administration.”
Worse, they actually made excuses for Putin, saying that his incursion was no big deal. A senior administration official told reporters Monday, “Russian troops moving into Donbas would not itself be a new step. Russia has had forces in the Donbas for the past eight years.” The only change, this official said, was that “Russia now looks like it’s going to be operating openly in that region.” And according to The Post, another administration official “defined a Russian invasion that would prompt a clear U.S. response as crossing into Ukrainian territory that Russia has ‘not occupied since 2014.’” Translation: Nothing to see here.
This is beyond belief. After his “minor incursion” gaffe, Biden drew a clear red line. He said that if “any” — and he repeated the word “any” — Russian units crossed those borders, that would constitute an invasion. Well, Putin did exactly that. He crossed the border — and Biden’s red line. But instead of responding decisively, his administration pathetically twisted itself into knots, looking for excuses not to call it an “invasion.”
Then, after belatedly acknowledging an invasion was underway, Biden failed to respond with the crippling sanctions he had promised. In his address, Biden announced personal sanctions on Russian elites and their family members, as well as some limited sanctions on two Russian banks. But he failed to announce any sanctions targeting Russia’s two most significant exports — oil and natural gas. Why? Because Germany now gets more than half of its natural gas imports from Russia, while the rest of the European Union depends on Russia for about 40 percent. And because Biden knows that oil and gas sanctions could impact energy prices in the United States as well.
Opinions on Russia and Ukraine
Indeed, while Biden failed to announce energy sanctions, he delivered an extended soliloquy on his determination to blunt the impact of sanctions on energy prices here at home. “As we respond, my administration is using every tool at our disposal to protect American businesses and consumers from rising prices at the pump,” Biden said. “I am going to take robust action to make sure that the pain of our sanctions is targeted at the Russian economy, not ours.” What kind of message of resolve is that? What Putin hears is that Biden is afraid to impose crippling energy sanctions because he does not want to be held responsible for driving gas prices up even further just months before the midterm elections. That will only embolden the Russian leader.
Worse still, Biden failed to deliver on his promise, made last week at a news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, to “end” the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if Russia invaded Ukraine. Biden had declared that “if Russia invades,” which “means tanks or troops crossing the border of Ukraine again,” then “there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.” Standing beside Biden, Scholz repeatedly refused to echo his declaration or even mention Nord Stream 2 by name.
Well, Russia just did what Biden said — sending its forces across Ukraine’s border. So, is Nord Stream 2 ended? No. On Tuesday, Scholz announced that he was halting the certification of the pipeline, so he could “re-evaluate this situation, in view of the latest developments.” Halting and re-evaluating Nord Stream 2 is very different from ending it. In his speech Tuesday, Biden said that “we’ve worked with Germany to ensure Nord Stream 2 will not, as I promised, will not move forward.” He did not say “there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2.”
How does all this come across to Putin? As weakness. Putin has long believed Biden is bluffing when he threatens serious consequences — just like he correctly assessed that the Obama-Biden administration was bluffing in 2014 when it warned of repercussions if Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea.
So far, he has been proved right. If Biden does not immediately reimpose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 — killing the project once and for all — and place crippling sanctions on Russia’s energy and banking sectors, then American credibility will be shattered beyond recovery.