Vladimir Putin is a war criminal. He pursues a dark fantasy to be some modern-day Peter the Great and amass a Russian empire. He needs to be deposed and fully prosecuted for the barbaric acts of targeting civilians, women, children, hospitals and bomb shelters.
For all his big talk and false propaganda though, Putin made a serious miscalculation by invading Ukraine with the inaccurate information from his sycophant generals that the Russian army could sweep through the country and quickly setup a puppet government. The brave Ukrainian people will not yield!
President Joe Biden is thankfully talking about Putin with more force now, but he’s late to the game. The U.S. Congress has fortunately been pushing a more forceful response, and we now have a historic opportunity to reshape the global playing field to America’s advantage if Biden will just stand strong.
The U.S. must make Putin, “pay, and be seen to pay, such a heavy price for his miscalculation that leaders around the world think twice before taking on the U.S. and its global alliance system,” so says the astute Walter Russell Mead of the Hudson Institute.
To make this a reality the U.S. must first support Ukraine’s ability to fight with weapons and intelligence, to include the warplanes that have been requested. Second, the current sanctions must be made more effective with the elimination of oil revenue payments, which could be escrowed until Russia withdraws. Third, America must open back up the spigots of oil and gas reserves and start drilling in order to become energy independent again, help fuel Europe’s energy needs and completely stifle Russia’s ability to act on the world stage.