Biden Ukraine Policy Does Not Match Rhetoric

President Biden has warned that Russia is beginning a military invasion of Ukraine and that the United States will now respond with a round of narrow sanctions targeting two Russian banks and some Russian elites. In addition, the United States will move 800 soldiers and up to eight F-35 fighter jets and 32 attack helicopters to the Baltic region and Poland, with the ostensible goal of reassuring our nervous European allies and deterring Russia from attacking NATO countries.

In announcing these moves, Biden mostly said the right things about Putin’s hysterical and meandering speech earlier this week. But the gap between his rhetoric and the weakness of the moves themselves is striking. A clear-eyed assessment of the situation would dictate a response with much more force: sanctions with true bite to them and rapid hard-power deployments to Poland and the Baltic nations.

About the Author

Rebeccah Heinrichs

Rebeccah Heinrichs is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and the director of Hudson’s Keystone Defense Initiative.

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President Biden has warned that Russia is beginning a military invasion of Ukraine and that the United States will now respond with a round of narrow sanctions targeting two Russian banks and some Russian elites. In addition, the United States will move 800 soldiers and up to eight F-35 fighter jets and 32 attack helicopters to the Baltic region and Poland, with the ostensible goal of reassuring our nervous European allies and deterring Russia from attacking NATO countries.

In announcing these moves, Biden mostly said the right things about Putin’s hysterical and meandering speech earlier this week. But the gap between his rhetoric and the weakness of the moves themselves is striking. A clear-eyed assessment of the situation would dictate a response with much more force: sanctions with true bite to them and rapid hard-power deployments to Poland and the Baltic nations.