The White House Appears to Wave the White Flag on Russian Sanctions

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

Thursday afternoon, nearly a day after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden finally addressed the public. Whatever the reason for the delay, it certainly did nothing to dispel the notion that the administration had been caught flat-footed.

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Yes, they had been “predicting” an invasion for the better part of a month, but that’s a far cry away from having an actual strategy in place to deal with such one. Regardless, Biden took the podium and delivered remarks in which he touted a new sanctions package that he claimed would be devastating for Vladimir Putin.

But, with the emergence of more details on exactly what is and isn’t being targeted, it looks much more like the White House is waving the white flag. Instead of hitting the Russians in the one area that could cripple them, their oil and gas industry is being left completely untouched.

No doubt, the Germans, who have stood in the gap for Russia throughout this ordeal, had a lot to do with the decision to leave Russia’s energy industry untouched. They have foolishly tied themselves to the Putin regime after ignoring the demands of former President Donald Trump to not do so. The result has been to empower Putin in ways he never dreamed possible, and short of Russia itself, no nation bears more blame for the current crisis than Germany. To even call them an ally at this point is largely farcical.

Biden holds a fair share of responsibility too, though. The United States has made itself dependent on Russian oil over the last year. That occurred because the current administration went scorched earth on domestic energy production upon taking office, canceling pipelines and federal leases in the name of fighting “climate change.” The far-left was enthralled, but it only escorted the West right into the trap Putin was laying.

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Unfortunately, there is no quick fix for this situation. Even if Biden decided to go gangbusters on domestic production as a response to Russia, and he won’t, it would take a significant amount of time to build capacity back up to the point where the U.S. is a net exporter again.

In short, Biden’s inept, leftwing pandering leadership has left no good options on the table. If the U.S. and Europe go hard on Russia’s energy sector now, it will throw Western economies into turmoil. It didn’t have to be that way. The tools were there to isolate Russia long ago while enriching the United States and its allies. Instead, arrogant elites more concerned about pronouns and windmills kneecapped their own nations so they could get backslaps at the World Economic Forum.

In summary, Biden’s big talk isn’t adding up to much, and the fault for that lies solely with him and his Eurotrash cohorts.

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