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Calling NATO’s Bluff, Putin Shows Why Sanctions Are Not Enough

Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2022
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AMAC Exclusive – By Daniel Roman

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Putin’s speech prior to sending his forces into Ukraine revealed a number of things about the world. It demonstrated that, for all the discussion about the strength of alliances depending on values and personal chemistry, at the end of the day, sometimes force is needed to repel force. Donald Trump’s criticism of NATO – that its dependence on the U.S. was not only freeriding but left European states unable to defend themselves – has proven prescient. The fatal flaw of relying on sanctions has been revealed, and NATO now finds itself in an inverse hostage situation where every sanction imposed to punish Russian aggression reduces the deterrents available in the future. Perhaps most alarmingly, the near panic in western capitals indicates there is no Plan B.

Not everyone was blind to these dangers. Donald Trump, when running for president in 2016, was openly critical of NATO, a stance he maintained while in office. He was accused of wishing to withdraw the United States from the alliance, and his attitude was treated as evidence of ignorance, with the response of “adults” such as Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and John Bolton being to try and “educate” him. They adopted this approach even though they conceded the substance of Donald Trump’s criticism that few countries made the spending commitment of 2% of their GDP. This was seen as a problem, but not a problem that justified throwing away a NATO, which wielded enormous soft power. After all, not only did NATO membership reassure the Baltic States and Poland, but the prospect of NATO membership allowed the West to exert influence over countries like Georgia and Ukraine. What were a few billion dollars compared to those benefits?

What they ignored by framing the issue as one of stinginess was that what mattered was not a few billion dollars, but what that money was not spent on. NATO’s collective security umbrella depended on the ability to respond to threats, and the lack of physical assets year after year made the gap between NATO’s ambitions and NATO’s abilities more apparent. The prospect of NATO expansion into Ukraine did not merely create questions about Russia’s physical security, it was a public challenge. Historically, public challenges are designed to force the other party to either accept the duel, or to retreat in embarrassment. There is always an element of bluff to international affairs, but the lack of spending by NATO member states was not a secret. It was public knowledge. Russia knew it. Hence by publicly challenging Russia without the strength to do anything to Russia (other than with major American military intervention), NATO was not exerting pressure but rather poking Moscow with a sharp stick. A strong NATO seeking to add Ukraine would be perceived by Putin as a threat. A weak NATO doing so was a public insult, and a challenge.

The lack of military capabilities in Europe has resulted in a lack of options with which to respond to Putin’s recognition of the two Eastern Ukrainian Oblasts of Luhansk and Donetsk. This should not have been a surprise. It was on the more limited end of the actions the White House predicted could occur. Yet despite allegedly having intelligence about Russian moves for weeks, the Biden administration and its allies seem entirely confused about how to respond.

Biden has been clear for weeks that he has no intention of using American troops to defend the Ukraine, or even, for that matter, to help evacuate U.S. civilians. Taking that seriously, he appears to have gone so far as to evacuate U.S. diplomats not just from Kyiv, but from Ukraine as a whole, having them spend the night after Putin’s announcement in a hotel over the Polish border, despite no evidence of a Russian threat to Kyiv that day, much less the Western city of Lviv where they had been relocated.

In the meantime, Russian actions have revealed the weakness of sanctions. The problem is not that they are ineffective, though they obviously have serious limitations against force. It is rather that they have a fatal flaw. Any sanctions that are imposed in response to one action can no longer be used to deter subsequent actions. If Biden punishes Putin for recognizing the separatist republics with sanctions on specific banks or individuals, he cannot use the threat of such sanctions to deter Russian forces from occupying all the territory claimed by the separatists, more than 60% of which is in Ukrainian hands. If Germany blocks or cancels Nord Stream 2 in response to Russian moves in the East, then it cannot threaten to do so in response to a Russian move on Kyiv.

Contrary to the arguments of “soft power” advocates that sanctions provide a wider variety of non-violent options, they actually create an inverse hostage situation, in which every advance Putin makes creates a disincentive to impose sanctions, lest imposing them reduce the costs of a further advance, thereby encouraging him to engage in further aggression. The only deterrence which can be successful with Putin is a type which is sufficiently overwhelming that the Russian President could retreat without a loss of face. Sanctions which are purely punitive, in other words, designed to “punish” the Russian President for “misbehaving” but with nowhere near the strength to justify his abandonment of territory he has already seized with the loss of domestic prestige entailed, merely lower the costs of even further aggression in the future.

Ultimately, there is less—not more—standing in the way of Putin marching on Kyiv on February 23rd than there was on February 20th. Every sanction imposed is one which Putin no longer has to worry about facing if he marches on Kyiv. Now, the only force standing in the way of such a move is the physical force of the Ukrainian army itself. The failure to build an effective, modern fighting force, despite over $2 billion in Western aid, stands as a far more important factor than any psychoanalysis of Putin. As with NATO, Donald Trump made efforts to highlight the sham effort the U.S. had undertaken in Ukraine under Obama, which saw the Ukrainians providing photo-ops and investment opportunities for Westerners in lieu of spending aid money on actual reform. The obsessions which culminated in the first impeachment of Donald Trump blinded Democrats, and even some Republicans, to the dangers posed to Western security by Ukrainian corruption. If Western security relied on defending Ukraine against Russian aggression, then the existence of corruption in Ukraine as standard operating practice was a serious national security concern.

The Biden administration has ignored the Ukrainian forces even more than Obama did. The withdrawal of American diplomats represents a public statement of no-confidence with almost certain consequences for the morale of Ukrainian troops. Suggestions that President Zelensky should leave his capital risk providing a pretext for Russia to claim that the Ukrainian government no longer controls the country. Is the Ukrainian military an ideal instrument? No. But it is the primary one, and Biden needs to figure out how to make the best of it. It is his only real leverage.

In the longer term, the lesson is that only actual ground forces provide options. Putin gave himself options through his ability to mobilize and deploy 190,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders. It is unclear now if NATO could mobilize 19,000 combat-ready troops without the United States. This crisis would have gone far differently if NATO could have held joint exercises of its own in Ukraine. The reason it has gone the way it has is because (aside from the U.S. military) NATO quite simply has no forces with which to back up its demands.

The lesson is clear. Sanctions ultimately do not work to deter major powers with economically vital resources. We need guns, not just butter. If we do not heed these lessons, we risk being in the same situation if Putin decides to try this stunt in the Baltic or with Romania.

Daniel Roman is the pen name of a frequent commentator and lecturer on foreign policy and political affairs, both nationally and internationally. He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the London School of Economics.  

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Michael l Javick Ret US Army
Michael l Javick Ret US Army
2 years ago

Russia has every right to defend Russian people–anywhere! The Ukraine–the actual birthplace of the Russian Nation has been taken over by whack jobs–Russia has now sent in tanks to defend THEIR people–they WILL clean the MURDERER UKAINIAN ‘S CLOCK !

Stephen Russell
Stephen Russell
2 years ago

Seeds for WW3, note locale of war is same site from 007 movie The World is Not Enough

Michael l Javick Ret US Army
Michael l Javick Ret US Army
2 years ago

Stunt? Who is this person to spew this propaganda? Russian people are being SLAUGHTERED by the NAZI UKRAINIANS ! FACT !

Steven E King
Steven E King
2 years ago

Biden has been wrong on every foreign issue that he has been involved with. He is wrong again. Sending Harris did not help. And he will blame our inflation/high gas prices on Russia/Ukraine. Maybe this is the JV team Obama was talking about. I just hope everyone remembers come November.

Tom
Tom
2 years ago

This isn’t about NATO. It is fears in Russia that are identical to the fears they felt with the European changes and intentions in the 1930’s. It is the exact same evil as NAZISM but it’s new name is Globalism.

PaulE
PaulE
2 years ago

Watching this all play out is an example of watching a chess grand master playing against a group of 5 year old kids in kindergarten. Biden, even before his dementia started to manifest itself, was an incompetent fool when it came to foreign relations. Never the smartest guy in the room under any circumstances, he now is just a national embarrassment, badly mishandling one issue after another. Biden’s administration is populated by Obama-era rejects and incompetents with a history of major F*** ups, so they just add to the pandemonium this administration is creating everywhere. Now Biden can’t even grasp the game being played and Putin knows it all.

Most the EU countries are headed by leaders who have either hitched their wagons to the Russia / China express or would fit right in with Chamberlain in terms of appeasement at any cost. Putin on the other hand is a seasoned KGB official, who knows how to properly size up the opposition and all he sees across the table from him in both the EU and the United States are weak hands. So he has rightly concluded the west is unwilling to impose any real sanctions that would harm Russia or himself, like cutting off Russia from SWIFT (Biden quietly ruled that out over the weekend) or imposing an export ban on ALL Russian exports (most of Europe is dependent on Russian oil and natural gas at this point). So there is no reason for Putin to NOT steamroll across Ukraine at this point. There is no real cost to his actions.

Looking at the sanctions Biden announced yesterday, they are a joke that wouldn’t deter anyone from a course of action. They are far too mild and limited in scope. Therefore, they have no real significant consequences to either the overall Russian economy or to Putin himself. The right sanctions could have worked, if they had been used earlier and were of the type I outlined above. However, what Biden has ultimately chosen to do is completely ineffective.

Martin
Martin
2 years ago

Biden can’t do too much to Russia becouse if he dose they cut the amount of oil we are buying from them. As long as Europa continues to buy oil and gas from Russia. Putting sanctions on Russia will do good.

kdesq
kdesq
2 years ago

Sorry, but it is not our war. The way to hurt putin is to build the xl pipeline, open up anwar and other federal lands for oil production. Drive the price of oil down, hurting his economy, and helping ours. Have other countries buying oil from us. This constant wanting to go to war is just ridiculous.

Gary
Gary
2 years ago

Would someone please Amendment 25 Biden . He’s doing far far too much damage . I can’t believe we have another 3 years of this to go yet . Surly , there must be a few Democrats’ in Congress who know how bad Biden is doing . He’s the wrong man at the wrong time. Surly , if Mr. Biden actually does love America , he must be aware of all the damage he’s doing and decide himself to resign for the good of the country .

Patriot Will
Patriot Will
2 years ago

The US definitely is caught between a rock and a hard place. The NATO countries in Europe should have become much more self reliant in defending their own territories. The US has a lot of troubles of its own, and can’t be expected to always save the day for other countries. On the other hand, if the US refuses to physically fight Putin, no matter what — potential Russian expansion could end up threatening the security of America. What a mess. Putin was not sure of President Trump. He knew President Trump was smart, strong, and unpredictable. However, Putin has Biden’s number. He knows that Biden pretends to be strong, but is actually weak and predictable.

PFArizona
PFArizona
2 years ago

The United States and Europe sat by for weeks and watched Putin prepare for war and DID NOTHING! They could have stopped him! But they wanted to wait because they couldn’t sanction him unless he did something or he would do it anyway!! YES, THEY ACTUALLY SAID THAT!

Why didn’t NATO and the U.S. conduct joint exercises of its own in Ukraine as a show of force when Putin started his build up for an invasion? The only thing a tyrant understands.

EUROPE BETTER STAND UP TO RUSSIA NOW! Or history will repeat itself and Putin is the new Hitler!

CUT RUSSIA OFF FROM SWIFT

Kay
Kay
2 years ago

This invasion is only the beginning of moving further and further into Europe for complete dominance by Russia. The biden administration hasn’t a clue what is going on and will only cause inflation to the Americans. This communist administration has destroyed America in just over one year. Can we survive another 3?

Barb304
Barb304
2 years ago

The thing worrying me the most is the thought of a third world war! God Bless America

Ed Nussbeutel
Ed Nussbeutel
2 years ago

So if sanctions don’t work then the only answer is military/war, you have got to be kidding me.

Bob
Bob
2 years ago

Predictable. It’s obvious by his behavior that Putin is a psychopath and displays those attributes and characteristics constantly…in both speech and action (e.g., Crimea and Georgia and now eastern Ukraine).

He is a bully.

He does not care about the impact on the people involved (Russian, Ukrainian or Russo-Ukranian).

He is beholding to only the Oligarchs (Russia’s “one-percenters”). The Russian people will suffer through deprivation and the loss of their military youth. He behaves like a king, and this is his kingdom. He’ll do as he pleases. The very picture of a 21st century dictator.

The west must ignore Putin’s verbal posturing and reasoning/excuses. Don’t even respond. He is absurd. The world knows it. Just call his remarks lies and stop there. (Unless, undiplomatically, you want to call them the musing of a crazy man.)

So how does a country, or an alliance, deal with such a character? Through strength. NATO, w/the U.S., has far more military and financial power than Russia. Russia is exposed in the Baltic. It is exposed in the Black Sea. It is exposed on its Pacific coast. It is exposed to national bankruptcy.

Since we warned about our financial embargo of Russia for months, it is safe to assume they have taken steps to protect themselves in the short term. The western democracies have to be prepared for a long (multi-year) effort.

Not just the U.S. but all democracies have to contribute. The western European countries must step-up and contribute More than the odd, ship, a couple of jets or, combat helmets. The NATO countries of Eastern Europe, especially the Baltic countries and Poland, must be swarming with visiting troops, artillery, armor and aircraft by mid-March. The total number should at least equal the Russian deployment.

Russia should look out from its coasts and see numerous NATO vessels. And know that below the surface there are even more.

Any commercial ships currently in port, but bound for Russia, must be quarantined in port now. (Can’t do it on the open seas — w/out violating international maritime law and possibly provoking combat.)

Cancel all commercial flights in and out of Russia immediately. No Russian commercial aircraft allowed to land-in, or fly-over, a NATO or SEATO country.

And then there is the cyber war. Shut down power and communications through-out Russia, all areas. Russia can’t attack back, because they don’t have the power for their computers and communications.

It’s time to stop talking “nice-nice” and instead, act to protect democracy.

tika
tika
2 years ago

it’s “show”, a “wag-the-dog” from all the globalists. it’s how commies have always kept a “usable tension” working for their advantage and the clinton’s introduced it in America. it’s in all pre-90s history books. we’ve fallen so far. now our own government is a globalist socialist hot-mess that foster the “wag-the-dog” B.S.

jake the snake
jake the snake
2 years ago

Putin is screwing over biden. Putin knows biden is a moron and he is saying you want to talk tough big boy poopy pants. bring it.

Biden will go hide in his basement again.

Bill on the Hill
Bill on the Hill
2 years ago

I got to hand it to Putin… He made a complete mockery out of the Biden regime, Europe & the pathetic FAKE NEWS industry here in America as even Daniel Roman fails to mention this & he did it with the stroke of a pen as it was his plan all along… Does anyone remember the Minsk Accords that goes back to president Obama & VP Biden? Russia is simply recognizing both Luhansk and Donetsk, primarily Russian people live there…Putin NEVER had any intention to invade anyone as I have repeatedly mentioned this in other AMAC articles…
Kudo’s to Putin, he made a FOOL out of everyone on this big ” nothing burger… ” LOL!!!
Obama was out of his element in International politics & Biden is TEN time worse!
Bill… :~)

Adonis
Adonis
2 years ago

NATO is nothing more than outdated paper tiger.

Fred Rose
Fred Rose
2 years ago

I’m no expert, but seems to me, that NATO or the United Nations, without the backing of the US military, is pretty benign. I read where a a UN plane landed in Ottawa the other day, and the authors implied that it should make Canadians shiver in fear. Neither of these organizations are going to rattle Putin.

John
John
2 years ago

America is in rapid decline. Our education system, news organizations, entertainment industry, military-industrial complex, security agencies, health agencies, judicial, administrative and executive branches of government have been infected with the secular humanist lie that man is autonomous, independent from the Creator God, and can create Utopia. We are no longer a constitutional republic. The federal government is rapidly attempting to hand our sovereignty over to an international body such as the European Union. Our leaders have abandoned the policy of “peace through strength”. Obama, Biden and the other totalitarians are trying to assemble a national enforcement system to demonize, and brand as lawless those, such as the Canadian truckers, and the anti-vaxxers in our own country who dare to redress their grievances. Don’t you think that enough is enough and that unless our grievances are addressed and freedom restored, that it will be time to fight? Thomas Jefferson once said, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”

Philip Hammersley
Philip Hammersley
2 years ago

Senile Joe has basically neutered the US and then starts a war. We no longer are energy independent and actually buy Russian oil. Russia also provides us wheat and the nickel which goes into our electronics. Exactly HOW are we hurting Putin? It seems he has us by the cojones.

Enuf Said
Enuf Said
2 years ago

Well, maybe Putin will just keep threatening and continue to watch the increase in gas prices. Why the Buck Fiden oil experts only purchased 232,000,000 barrels of oil from Russia the year since ole Depends pants has been in the now Blight House!!

BAE
BAE
2 years ago

Putin is making a fool out of Joe Biden. Oh, sorry, he is a fool. What awful situation will Biden get us into next? And his administration, the worse! Very scary……………….

David L
David L
2 years ago

Putin is a very sharp person. It is hard for me to understand why Biden could be trusted due to the constant assault on Trump by the Democrats claiming Russian collusion during his Presidency. The Democrats put themselves into this position. Putin is going to do what he chooses to do. Russia needs revenue from oil production for their economy. Any sanctions by the Biden Administration will probably not work. Europe needs Russian oil.

Dalebp
Dalebp
2 years ago

Biden sucks

Bill T
Bill T
2 years ago

Beijing Biden is the weakest and most pathetic world leader ever. (Of any world power In the history of the modern world) . Other evil tyrannical countries will literally walk right over him. I’m sure this exercise in flexing Putin’s muscles is fascinating and disturbing for our entire free world to see right now, guess Afghanistan was simply an appetizer for the main course. Russia will take over anything it pleases and after Ukraine anything is possible, Rumania next? Also I said many times that after the communist run winter Olympic Games China will set its sights directly on Taiwan (control technology completely if they control the worlds chip production, and they will ) Timing is everything and there’s never been an Easier time than the present to obtain any and everything you so desire, especially with a fraud of a president who took millions of dollars in bribes to completely aid and abet our most dangerous enemies. Just too much to say. I literally could go on for DAYS with the mistakes This administration has caused already. They should all be replaced, the Supreme Court should reopen the political corruption that allowed this pretentious administration the opportunity to literally destroy everything they can. All so a new world order, tyrannical government can remove our founders and country’s constitution. It’s the worst and most damaging enemy of WE THE PEOPLE ever. Just look north of us at that slimy sneaky coward in Canada. Biden is far worse.

Owen Shrock
Owen Shrock
2 years ago

AMAC I don’t know what’s going on in your organization but I just logged on and read this article, then I tried to agree/vote on several of the comments. Each time I did you tell me I’ve already voted on them. It’s bad enough you censor me from time to time, but now I can’t vote on things.

Next you’ll be telling me it’s Russian interference…Give me a break man!

Hannes
Hannes
2 years ago

Ein Diktator versteht am Ende nur Waffen, während Butter auf seine Essbrotchen gehört. Appeasement zeigte Hitler die Schwäche Europas, während die Androhung von Sanktionen in Verbindung mit Bidens Vorschlag, präsident Selenskyj solle seine Hauptstadt verlassen, ein weiterer Beweis für die fatale Schwäche des Westens ist. Wäre Frankreich 1938 hitlerisch auf die Füße getreten, wäre der Krieg vielleicht abgewendet. Heute wird ein stählernes Rückgrat benötigt, aber keines ist unter den vernichtenden Feiglingen zu haben, die in den vergoldeten Hauptstädten des Westens sitzen.

Garye
Garye
2 years ago

Oh gee another epic failure by joebama and the marxist democrats in Ukraine while their Afghanistan debacle is still unresolved??
Billions in military hardware, un- vetted people spread around America in the dark if night. Lives lost by ignorant, non-thinking politicians and weakness in the world view.
How can anyone with a brain have any faith in this group clown show in Washington????
A REAL Leader like President Trump ,protected America without incident and Our Country’s Greatness would nit dare be challenged!
these failure democrats can’t even get out of their own way.
What a PATHETIC group of failures!
Throw them out and Save America!

Michael l Javick Ret US Army
Michael l Javick Ret US Army
2 years ago

Russia has every right to defend Russian people–anywhere! The Ukraine–the actual birthplace of the Russian Nation has been taken over by whack jobs–Russia has now sent in tanks to defend THEIR people–they WILL clean the MURDERER UKAINIAN ‘S CLOCK !

Stephen Russell
Stephen Russell
2 years ago

Seeds for WW3, note locale of war is same site from 007 movie The World is Not Enough

Michael l Javick Ret US Army
Michael l Javick Ret US Army
2 years ago

Stunt? Who is this person to spew this propaganda? Russian people are being SLAUGHTERED by the NAZI UKRAINIANS ! FACT !

Steven E King
Steven E King
2 years ago

Biden has been wrong on every foreign issue that he has been involved with. He is wrong again. Sending Harris did not help. And he will blame our inflation/high gas prices on Russia/Ukraine. Maybe this is the JV team Obama was talking about. I just hope everyone remembers come November.

Tom
Tom
2 years ago

This isn’t about NATO. It is fears in Russia that are identical to the fears they felt with the European changes and intentions in the 1930’s. It is the exact same evil as NAZISM but it’s new name is Globalism.

PaulE
PaulE
2 years ago

Watching this all play out is an example of watching a chess grand master playing against a group of 5 year old kids in kindergarten. Biden, even before his dementia started to manifest itself, was an incompetent fool when it came to foreign relations. Never the smartest guy in the room under any circumstances, he now is just a national embarrassment, badly mishandling one issue after another. Biden’s administration is populated by Obama-era rejects and incompetents with a history of major F*** ups, so they just add to the pandemonium this administration is creating everywhere. Now Biden can’t even grasp the game being played and Putin knows it all.

Most the EU countries are headed by leaders who have either hitched their wagons to the Russia / China express or would fit right in with Chamberlain in terms of appeasement at any cost. Putin on the other hand is a seasoned KGB official, who knows how to properly size up the opposition and all he sees across the table from him in both the EU and the United States are weak hands. So he has rightly concluded the west is unwilling to impose any real sanctions that would harm Russia or himself, like cutting off Russia from SWIFT (Biden quietly ruled that out over the weekend) or imposing an export ban on ALL Russian exports (most of Europe is dependent on Russian oil and natural gas at this point). So there is no reason for Putin to NOT steamroll across Ukraine at this point. There is no real cost to his actions.

Looking at the sanctions Biden announced yesterday, they are a joke that wouldn’t deter anyone from a course of action. They are far too mild and limited in scope. Therefore, they have no real significant consequences to either the overall Russian economy or to Putin himself. The right sanctions could have worked, if they had been used earlier and were of the type I outlined above. However, what Biden has ultimately chosen to do is completely ineffective.

Martin
Martin
2 years ago

Biden can’t do too much to Russia becouse if he dose they cut the amount of oil we are buying from them. As long as Europa continues to buy oil and gas from Russia. Putting sanctions on Russia will do good.

kdesq
kdesq
2 years ago

Sorry, but it is not our war. The way to hurt putin is to build the xl pipeline, open up anwar and other federal lands for oil production. Drive the price of oil down, hurting his economy, and helping ours. Have other countries buying oil from us. This constant wanting to go to war is just ridiculous.

Gary
Gary
2 years ago

Would someone please Amendment 25 Biden . He’s doing far far too much damage . I can’t believe we have another 3 years of this to go yet . Surly , there must be a few Democrats’ in Congress who know how bad Biden is doing . He’s the wrong man at the wrong time. Surly , if Mr. Biden actually does love America , he must be aware of all the damage he’s doing and decide himself to resign for the good of the country .

Patriot Will
Patriot Will
2 years ago

The US definitely is caught between a rock and a hard place. The NATO countries in Europe should have become much more self reliant in defending their own territories. The US has a lot of troubles of its own, and can’t be expected to always save the day for other countries. On the other hand, if the US refuses to physically fight Putin, no matter what — potential Russian expansion could end up threatening the security of America. What a mess. Putin was not sure of President Trump. He knew President Trump was smart, strong, and unpredictable. However, Putin has Biden’s number. He knows that Biden pretends to be strong, but is actually weak and predictable.

PFArizona
PFArizona
2 years ago

The United States and Europe sat by for weeks and watched Putin prepare for war and DID NOTHING! They could have stopped him! But they wanted to wait because they couldn’t sanction him unless he did something or he would do it anyway!! YES, THEY ACTUALLY SAID THAT!

Why didn’t NATO and the U.S. conduct joint exercises of its own in Ukraine as a show of force when Putin started his build up for an invasion? The only thing a tyrant understands.

EUROPE BETTER STAND UP TO RUSSIA NOW! Or history will repeat itself and Putin is the new Hitler!

CUT RUSSIA OFF FROM SWIFT

Kay
Kay
2 years ago

This invasion is only the beginning of moving further and further into Europe for complete dominance by Russia. The biden administration hasn’t a clue what is going on and will only cause inflation to the Americans. This communist administration has destroyed America in just over one year. Can we survive another 3?

Barb304
Barb304
2 years ago

The thing worrying me the most is the thought of a third world war! God Bless America

Ed Nussbeutel
Ed Nussbeutel
2 years ago

So if sanctions don’t work then the only answer is military/war, you have got to be kidding me.

Bob
Bob
2 years ago

Predictable. It’s obvious by his behavior that Putin is a psychopath and displays those attributes and characteristics constantly…in both speech and action (e.g., Crimea and Georgia and now eastern Ukraine).

He is a bully.

He does not care about the impact on the people involved (Russian, Ukrainian or Russo-Ukranian).

He is beholding to only the Oligarchs (Russia’s “one-percenters”). The Russian people will suffer through deprivation and the loss of their military youth. He behaves like a king, and this is his kingdom. He’ll do as he pleases. The very picture of a 21st century dictator.

The west must ignore Putin’s verbal posturing and reasoning/excuses. Don’t even respond. He is absurd. The world knows it. Just call his remarks lies and stop there. (Unless, undiplomatically, you want to call them the musing of a crazy man.)

So how does a country, or an alliance, deal with such a character? Through strength. NATO, w/the U.S., has far more military and financial power than Russia. Russia is exposed in the Baltic. It is exposed in the Black Sea. It is exposed on its Pacific coast. It is exposed to national bankruptcy.

Since we warned about our financial embargo of Russia for months, it is safe to assume they have taken steps to protect themselves in the short term. The western democracies have to be prepared for a long (multi-year) effort.

Not just the U.S. but all democracies have to contribute. The western European countries must step-up and contribute More than the odd, ship, a couple of jets or, combat helmets. The NATO countries of Eastern Europe, especially the Baltic countries and Poland, must be swarming with visiting troops, artillery, armor and aircraft by mid-March. The total number should at least equal the Russian deployment.

Russia should look out from its coasts and see numerous NATO vessels. And know that below the surface there are even more.

Any commercial ships currently in port, but bound for Russia, must be quarantined in port now. (Can’t do it on the open seas — w/out violating international maritime law and possibly provoking combat.)

Cancel all commercial flights in and out of Russia immediately. No Russian commercial aircraft allowed to land-in, or fly-over, a NATO or SEATO country.

And then there is the cyber war. Shut down power and communications through-out Russia, all areas. Russia can’t attack back, because they don’t have the power for their computers and communications.

It’s time to stop talking “nice-nice” and instead, act to protect democracy.

tika
tika
2 years ago

it’s “show”, a “wag-the-dog” from all the globalists. it’s how commies have always kept a “usable tension” working for their advantage and the clinton’s introduced it in America. it’s in all pre-90s history books. we’ve fallen so far. now our own government is a globalist socialist hot-mess that foster the “wag-the-dog” B.S.

jake the snake
jake the snake
2 years ago

Putin is screwing over biden. Putin knows biden is a moron and he is saying you want to talk tough big boy poopy pants. bring it.

Biden will go hide in his basement again.

Bill on the Hill
Bill on the Hill
2 years ago

I got to hand it to Putin… He made a complete mockery out of the Biden regime, Europe & the pathetic FAKE NEWS industry here in America as even Daniel Roman fails to mention this & he did it with the stroke of a pen as it was his plan all along… Does anyone remember the Minsk Accords that goes back to president Obama & VP Biden? Russia is simply recognizing both Luhansk and Donetsk, primarily Russian people live there…Putin NEVER had any intention to invade anyone as I have repeatedly mentioned this in other AMAC articles…
Kudo’s to Putin, he made a FOOL out of everyone on this big ” nothing burger… ” LOL!!!
Obama was out of his element in International politics & Biden is TEN time worse!
Bill… :~)

Adonis
Adonis
2 years ago

NATO is nothing more than outdated paper tiger.

Fred Rose
Fred Rose
2 years ago

I’m no expert, but seems to me, that NATO or the United Nations, without the backing of the US military, is pretty benign. I read where a a UN plane landed in Ottawa the other day, and the authors implied that it should make Canadians shiver in fear. Neither of these organizations are going to rattle Putin.

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