A Bad Day for Vladimir Putin - WSJ Editorial
China poses the greatest threat to U.S. national security, but that doesnt mean other adversaries should get a pass. Credit then to President Biden for imposing costs on Russia over a wide range of malfeasance.
Sanctions are often a half-measure, but some of the retaliatory actions announced by the Biden Administration Thursday will have serious consequences. Most important is a ban on American financial institutions purchasing new bonds from the Russian finance ministry, central bank or sovereign-wealth fund after June 14. The executive order also allows the U.S. government to sanction any part of the Russian economy, which will make U.S. firms think twice about doing business in Russia. The weakness of the plan is that U.S. traders will still be able to access Russian debt in secondary bond markets. Russia summoned the U.S. Ambassador to Moscow, and a foreign ministry spokeswoman warned, Washington must realize that the degradation of bilateral relations will have to be paid for. The responsibility for what is happening lies entirely with the United States. This is a predictable tactic: Attack the U.S.then blame the victim for retaliating.
In reality this is well-deserved and long overdue. The White House said the new sanctions are a response to Russias election interference, cyber espionage, transnational corruption, targeting dissidents abroad, and violation of other countries sovereignty.
The U.S. also announced the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomatsa polite way of saying spies. Dozens of entities, individuals and companies were sanctioned over their election interference and cyber attacks. The Administration formally blamed Russias Foreign Intelligence Service for the SolarWinds hack of U.S. government and corporate computer systems and has hinted that other actions were taken privately.
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On a Tuesday call with Mr. Putin, the President suggested a summit meeting in a third country in the coming months. The Kremlin said the sanctions could blow up Mr. Bidens offer, but dont count on it. As Russias economy stumbles along, Mr. Putin needs a summit more than Washington does. Mr. Biden shouldnt accept a meeting absent a change of behavior from his Russian counterpart.
The world would be a safer place if Washington and Moscow got along. A natural place to start would be cooperation against Islamic extremism or Chinese adventurism. But getting to that point will require Russia to act like a responsible country.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-bad-day-for-vladimir-putin-11618527169 (subscription)
SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)Response to question everything (Original post)
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Grins
(7,111 posts)Left unsaid: Trump should have done this YEARS ago. So why didnt he?
Tbear
(480 posts)If he is still in prison will President Biden meet with Putin?
NNadir
(33,363 posts)We can expect someone in the Murdock organization, which has worked tirelessly to advance Putin's interest by it's support of an orange highly compromised functional idiot in the White House pte-Biden, to be fired.
question everything
(47,211 posts)Hillary and, I think, Schumer.
They really hated Trump from the days of his candidacy and called on him to step down after this year impeachment. But... they like the Republican policy of low taxes and less regulations.
They have been against tariffs and do support immigration.
And, many Democratic stalwarts like Sherrod Brown and Katie Porter have published op-eds there.
NNadir
(33,363 posts)...ever admitted to the US.
If he had any reservations about Trump, his employees wouldn't have incited an attempted to overthrow the US in order to install Putin's lapdog as US dictator for life.
roamer65
(36,738 posts)The Russians like having Siberia. They wont much longer if they alienate the Chinese.