Biden Pledged To Stand Up To Putin; He’s Spent Months Appeasing Him And Emboldening Russian Aggression

BIDEN SAID HE WOULDN’T LET THIS HAPPEN

• On the campaign trail, Biden said he would “make it clear to the Kremlin that it must end its aggression toward and occupation of Ukraine.”
• Now nearly 100,000 Russian troops and growing are massed near Ukraine’s border, potentially on the verge of invading.
  • While Biden claimed he would “command the respect” of Putin, he is now weakly trying to appease him with “any accommodation” to avoid a full-blown territorial grab.
  • After a call last week where Biden supposedly was going to stand up to Putin, Russia “added at least 10,000 more troops” to Ukraine’s border.
• Instead of standing up to Putin, Biden administration officials are reportedly planning to appease him, pressuring Ukraine to cave.
  • Biden officials will reportedly “press Ukraine to formally cede a measure of autonomy to its eastern Donbas region” in direct violation of Biden’s previous statement that “the United States has the capacity to counter” the Kremlin threat.
  • In Latvia on December 1, Biden’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken publicly warned Ukraine to “exercise restraint.”
  • Ukraine Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba: concessions fail to “abate Putin’s appetite: rather, they feed it.”
• The last time Biden, Blinken, Jake Sullivan, and Susan Rice were in office, Russia seized nearby Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, giving it critical position on the Black Sea.

WHILE PUTIN HAS WALKED OVER BIDEN, BIDEN HAS TRIED TO APPEASE HIM WITH A SERIES OF GEOPOLITICAL GIVEAWAYS

• Biden lifted sanctions on the Russian Nord Stream 2 Pipeline this summer, which has since been completed.
  • The pipeline is a geopolitical gift for Putin, with one Biden State official recently saying energy is “the cash cow that enables” Putin. 
  • In 2016, eight EU countries – the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and Lithuania – signed a letter objecting to the Nord Stream 2 project.
  • In 2021, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly – 581 to 50 – to block work on the pipeline.
  • The Ukrainian parliament overwhelmingly backed a resolution calling on U.S. lawmakers to override Biden’s decision to waive sanctions.
• Biden’s decision to give Putin the pipeline came just two weeks after the Russian criminal group DarkSide disrupted America’s energy supply with a ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline.
  • When Biden met with Putin, instead of standing up to this aggression, he instead weakly asked Putin not to attack a list of 16 sectors that Biden says should be “off limits.”
• Biden’s policies are fueling Russia’s oil industry, with Americans paying on average over $3.30 per gallon at the pump while Russian exports of oil to the U.S. hit an all-time high earlier this year.
• When Biden met with Putin earlier this year, Biden secured no victories for America: he failed to secure the release of detained Americans Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed and failed to get Putin to agree to curtail his military aggression toward Ukraine.
  • Asked by a reporter why he was confident Putin would change his behavior after their meeting, Biden snapped: “When did I say I was confident? If you don't understand that, you're in the wrong business."

BIDEN HAS A HISTORY OF UNDERESTIMATING PUTIN 

• Biden has a history of underestimating Putin, even praising him when he first took power.
  • In 2001, Biden had a positive view of Putin, saying he was “amazed” at Putin’s “move” towards the West, comparing Putin to Peter the Great and praising him for standing up to Russia’s military.
  • In 2002, Biden credited Putin for Russia “moving toward greater acceptance of the rule of law, free trade, and a market economy.”  
  • As Senator, Biden attempted to buy Putin’s support for the Iraq war with the promise of billions in oil money. 
• As vice president, Biden repeatedly failed when dealing with Russia, pushing a “reset” with Putin and underestimating the threat he posed.
  • Biden’s own Secretary of State – Tony Blinken – has said Biden was the one who “first advanced” the Obama administration’s Russia “reset” in 2009, which ended up being a complete failure.
  • Then-Vice President Biden backedRussia’s bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), saying “President Obama and I strongly support and want to see Russia in WTO.”
  • In 2011, Biden invited then-Russian Prime Minister Putin to visit the Obama White House, a move that sent “the wrong signal” because Putin was not the head of state, and it gave him legitimacy as Putin prepared to run for President again. 
• Biden has repeatedly downplayed the threat of Russia.
  • In 2012, Biden mocked the idea that “Russia is still our major adversary.”
  • In 2018, Biden said that Russia is in “enormous decline.”