Vladimir Putin Just Wants to Save Face
His bluff called, outmaneuvered by President Biden, Putin may soon be looking for a graceful way out of his mess in the Ukraine.
For the past weeks, as tensions have roiled between Russia and the Ukraine, President Joe Biden’s Administration has been engaged in a very public, very high-stakes chess match against Vladimir Putin.
As the world has breathlessly watched every move, second-guessing all the while, members of the press have missed the larger implications of Biden’s posturing on Russia.
Biden’s threats of sanctions, his emergency meetings with world leaders; warnings from the U.S. military that American citizens should evacuate Kiev, even the withdrawal of American military troops on a routine training mission in Ukraine: Everything Biden has done has been about one thing.
Deterrence.
He has executed this strategy so well, Joe Biden may in time come to be known as the Anti-War President. If the purpose of Biden’s ministrations was to cause Russia to hesitate before invading Ukraine, and the Ukraine to consider making concessions to Russia previously considered verboten, then Biden has succeeded.
If his goal was to impress the tabloid-obsessed press corp, he has failed.