While President Biden and Western negotiators are offering billions in sanctions relief to convince Iran to return to the nuclear deal, they have decided that Russia deserves no such carrot to halt its aggression against Ukraine. Quite the contrary— it merits only sticks.
How does this make sense?
The West offers billions that it knows will be used by Iran to support its terror proxies, but Russia gets only the stick of escalating sanctions. With Iran we act like suckers and with Russia we act like bullies. What kind of coherent geopolitical strategy is that?
As dangerous as a nuclear Iran would be, an all-out war in Ukraine would be a disaster for the world and for America. In addition to the tragic human toll, an analysis on CNN.com listed six ways such a war would hurt the United States: Continued rise in gas prices, historic inflation, market turbulence, slower economic growth, higher borrowing costs and more cyberattacks.
In other words, our fearless leaders should be doing all they can right now to prevent this all-out war. We need shrewd leaders who are problem-solvers. Instead, we get loud displays of chest-thumping: “Hey Vlad, you better not go any further or we’ll punish you.”
Does Vladimir Putin look like the kind of guy who’ll run back with his tail between his legs and suffer global humiliation?
Do we really think such public saber rattling will scare off the Russian bear? Does Vladimir Putin look like the kind of guy who’ll run back with his tail between his legs and suffer global humiliation?
If we can find a carrot for the world’s #1 sponsor of terror, why can’t we find one for Russia? If we’re willing to accept a 10-year sunset clause on Iran’s nuclear program, why not negotiate a similar limit to NATO’s encroachment toward Russia—including a guarantee that Ukraine won’t join NATO for a fixed period of time?
At this point, we need quiet diplomacy that will help Putin save face, not loud threats that will make him dig in even deeper.
At this point, we need quiet diplomacy that will help Putin save face, not loud threats that will make him dig in even deeper. But instead of defusing and de-escalating, we’re doing the very opposite.
I used to think that our leaders always had something up their sleeves, some grand strategy or classified intelligence that would guide them to a positive outcome. I no longer believe that. Now I get the feeling our leaders are no better than we are.
Instead of getting results, they just talk a lot.
