How Biden's ineptitude led to Russian invasion of Ukraine. 7 ways he contributed to it,

 How Biden's ineptitude led to Russian invasion of Ukraine. 7 ways he contributed to it,

WSJournal today

"Mr. Biden’s past actions likely emboldened Vladimir Putin.

1. Before Mr. Biden became president, Mr. Putin had been conditioned by the Obama-Biden administration’s weak response to Russia’s seizure of Crimea in 2014, which involved imposing modest sanctions but refusing to arm Ukraine.

2. Mr. Putin’s attacks on civilians during Syria’s civil war, starting in 2015, in support of the brutal Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, were met with only light sanctions levied by the U.S.

3. Once Mr. Biden assumed the presidency, he discarded a powerful geopolitical advantage—America’s energy independence—by canceling the Keystone XL pipeline, halting leases for drilling on federal land and waters, restricting access to capital for oil and gas companies, and piling on regulatory burdens. Mr. Putin must have been amazed by the U.S. squandering such a huge edge.

4. Then on May 19, 2021, the Biden administration removed sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany, which had been imposed by President Donald Trump, without concessions from Russia. Mr. Biden renewed sanctions late that summer, but he had already sent the wrong signal.

5. In late May, Mr. Biden issued his defense budget. Mr. Putin surely realized a 1.6% increase was—after inflation—a decline in American military spending. That too suggested weakness.

6. Then, before a mid-June summit between the two leaders, Mr. Biden paused a $100 million military aid package to Ukraine, signaling again to Mr. Putin a lack of American resolve. It took until September for the U.S. to restart military assistance to Ukraine—and even then, a bipartisan group of senators criticized the package as inadequate.

7. Perhaps the most damaging thing Mr. Biden did was his abject surrender in Afghanistan. Mr. Putin was probably astounded that with the country stabilized and only a minimal residual force remaining, America would abandon it to the Taliban. Such things get noticed in the Kremlin.

Mr. Putin might have invaded Ukraine without Mr. Biden’s missteps. We’ll never know."