Much of what President Biden said in this afternoon’s press conference on sanctions against Russia was cheerleading disconnected from reality. He complained, for example, that Russia attacked Ukraine just as the U.N. Security Council was meeting “to stave off Russia’s invasion.” He left out the inconvenient detail that the vaunted Security Council was being chaired by . . . yes, Russia. The assembled powers, moreover, had no intention of staving off anything in Ukraine. Indeed, in today’s remarks, Biden stressed this week’s mantra that he intends to “defend every inch of NATO,” implicitly underscoring the fact that he will not defend any inch of Ukraine.
And no, I am not saying he should do so — at least, not with American combat forces. We should be giving the Ukrainians the weapons and logistical assistance they need to mount a long-term insurgency that will cost Russia dearly (as the CIA did in Afghanistan during the 1980s, and as was done to us by Iran and other sponsors of the insurgency in Iraq). My narrow point here, though, is that the Biden administration’s modest hope all along has been to punish Russia for an attack that Biden not only predicted but inadvertently encouraged with his “minor incursion” gaffe. There was no thought of staving off the attack before it occurred.
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