After his deterrence strategy failed to prevent Putin from invading Ukraine, Joe Biden is now claiming, “no one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening.”
The problem for Biden – his senior national security officials repeatedly said their sanctions strategy was deterrence:
- On February 11, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that “the President believes that sanctions are intended to deter.”
- On February 13, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said that “there is a deterrent effect by keeping [the sanctions] in reserve.”
- On February 20, Vice President Kamala Harris said the threat of sanctions will “absolutely” deter Putin from making the decision to invade.
- On February 20, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the purpose of the sanctions “is to try to deter Russia from going to war”
- On February 20, John Kirby said sanctions are “supposed to be a deterrent” and are hoping that the sanctions “could affect the calculus.”
- On February 21, John Kirby said that the Biden administration wants the sanctions to “have a deterrent effect.”
- On February 21, Jake Sullivan said that Biden wanted Russia to understand “exactly what the scope and nature of the sanctions they will face are as a deterrent measure.”
- On February 22, a senior Biden administration official said that “sanctions are meant to serve a higher purpose, which is to deter and prevent.”
- On February 22, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics Daleep Singh said that sanctions are “meant to prevent and deter a large-scale invasion of Ukraine.”
- On February 22, Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said that the Biden administration was trying to “deter Russia through sanctions and to deescalate this situation through diplomacy.”
- On February 23, Blinken said that the sanctions are designed “to try to deter Russia from taking further aggression.”
In fact, “deterrence” was the reason they argued against sanctioning Russia before. Now, Biden is saying sanctions will take weeks to have an effect.
So who is lying, Biden or his officials? And if they were never meant to deter, why did Biden delay in enacting them? Why is he still not sanctioning Putin?
Through all the confusion here’s the bottom line: Biden promised he would keep Putin in check. He failed.
