After Resounding Support for Ukraine, President Biden Caves

I first felt the stinging venom from my wife. So you had decided to vote for Joe Biden because Donald Trump didn’t give you a strong enough impression that he’d support Ukraine, did you?

Mea culpa.

Her caustic condemnation of President Biden on many counts complemented the chorus of conservative pundits around the country that are castigating the commander in chief for screwing up a wide range of policies and programs in just slightly over 100 days.

Our kitchen debate that resounded around the world specifically pertains to President Biden’s shocking decision yesterday to waive sanctions against an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who heads the company that is building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany – Moscow’s veiled imperialistic gambit, according to a handful of media sources.

Did the President suffer from a sudden bout of weak knees or cold feet? Or was he out rightly lying all along and then in the penultimate moment sold Ukraine – America’s proclaimed strategic partner and best ally in defending of the free world – down the river?

President Biden, since his inauguration, gave Ukraine, Ukrainian Americans and surely the former captive nations a welcome sense of understanding and support for Ukraine and indignant opposition to the occupants of the Kremlin – in marked contrast to President Trump’s policies.

The White House’s move is likely to draw criticism from lawmakers and a host of others who have argued that several pipe-laying vessels and entities, including Nord Stream-2 AG and its CEO, could be subject to sanctions under the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act of 2019, known as PEESA. The recently adopted Ukraine Security Partnership Act as amended states it “Requires the President to report to Congress within 15 days whether Nord Stream-2 AG, the company building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and 19 other entities are eligible for sanctions under the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act.”

Furthermore, Congressional Ukraine Caucus, in a statement reaffirming support for Ukraine in face of increased Russian aggression, noted: “We were proud to spearhead Congressional efforts to increase Ukraine’s defense security assistance from $250 to $275 million for FY21, as well as to place mandatory sanctions on Nord Stream-2 through legislation. We agree with the Administration that the Kremlin should face serious consequences if it escalates its aggression against Ukraine. We must continue to raise the cost on Russia’s ongoing aggression through increased sanctions and putting an end to Nord Stream-2. Defenders of liberty from around the entire world stand with our Ukrainian allies.”

Republican lawmakers, with the help of their colleagues from the other side of the aisle, had pushed the Biden Administration to use financial punishments to stop the pipeline.

“If the Putin regime is allowed to finish this pipeline, it will be because the Biden Administration chose to let it happen,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said via a statement from his office. “I want to be clear: this pipeline is not a simple commercial project that could frustrate our relationship with Berlin. It is a Russian malign influence project that threatens to deepen Europe’s energy dependence on Moscow, render Ukraine more vulnerable to Russian aggression and provide billions of dollars to Putin’s coffers.”

The Oval Office will also catch the ire of Ukrainian American voters. It will be hard pressed to defend or explain its new position, which is detrimental to Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty. The German-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline is “a Russian geopolitical project intended to divide Europe and weaken European energy security”, the Secretary of State Antony Blinken, warned on the eve of his triumphant visit to Kyiv.

With the pipeline so close to completion there was an expectation that the US would feel the issue was a lost cause, but Blinken insisted in a statement that firms involved in the project should immediately abandon work or face sanctions. He said the Biden Administration was intent on complying with existing bipartisan Congress legislation that calls for sanctions against those working on the project. He said the US was tracking those entities believed to be involved in the project.

The Baltic Sea pipeline that bypasses Ukraine – so depriving the country of significant revenues – is 90% complete and could even be operational by June.

Ironically, Blinken’s warning came the day after President Biden surprisingly acknowledged on national television that Putin was a killer, a description that pleased adversaries of the Kremlin and prompted Moscow to withdraw his ambassador to Washington.

Secretary of State Blinken’s trip to Ukraine was undeniably an effort to show Ukrainians, Russia and the world that “we stand with them, including against any aggression from Russia,” as Blinken put it in a recent interview with MSNBC. Few in Washington objected to this language, which echoes other Biden administration statements and actions as well as the popular idea the United States should protect Ukraine from Russia. Expectations ran high that Washington would not stand down from supporting Kyiv in any way possible against Moscow.

Furthermore, Blinken had promised to oppose it during his confirmation hearing: “I am determined to do whatever we can to prevent that completion (of Nord Stream 2).”

During Blinken’s visit to Ukraine, in a press huddle, a senior State Department official confirmed that Nord Stream 2 was a topic of discussion in Kyiv.

“It was mentioned, their position on Nord Stream 2 – Ukraine’s – and their concerns about that, and the Secretary reflected the concerns that we have about it too, and what we’ve continued to make clear to the Germans, of course the Russians as well, that we think it’s a bad idea, a damaging project, but there’s also U.S. law involved in terms of reacting to that.”

Despite this hopeful build up, Washington flip-flopped.

“The Biden Administration has been clear that the Nord Stream-2 pipeline is a Russian geopolitical project that threatens European energy security and that of Ukraine and eastern flank NATO Allies and partners,” a spokesperson was quoted as saying yesterday. “We continue to examine entities involved in potentially sanctionable activity and have made it clear that companies risk sanctions if they are involved in Nord Stream 2.”

Waiving sanctions against this Russian project is also opposed by the former captive nations of Russian subjugation that see its inherent danger.

During a major meeting of Eastern European leaders in Warsaw at the start of this month, the Polish foreign ministry said Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba discussed the “threats to peace in Europe resulting from the escalation of tensions along the northern and eastern border of Ukraine and in occupied Crimea, and from the construction of Nord Stream 2.”

In conversations with Kuleba, Rau noted that both officials agreed that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline threatens Europe.

“We see clearly that this project allows synchronization of pressure—political, economic, and military. This pipeline, if completed, will create a state of clear and present danger to peace in Europe,” Rau said.

Nord Stream 2 plainly isn’t a singular issue of importance to Ukraine. Its construction has serious security and geopolitical ramifications for the region, which should not be demeaned by Washington.

Is President Biden kowtowing to German Chancellor Angela Merkel? Or is he atoning before Putin for his pro-Ukraine position? Answers are not yet forthcoming. But if truth be told, this is not how you build a strong, proactive American foreign policy that has to defend global peace and security for some four years. Putin undoubtedly is smirking at Biden’s weakness.

The President should not allow Russia to use Western business interests, if that’s a reason, to undermine policy principles. The debacle over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is a classic example of how a “business first” approach to international relations conflicts with political objectives and weakens solidarity among strategic partners on this side of a re-emerging iron curtain.

This scandalous about face seen round the world certainly calls into question President Biden’s leadership of the free world and leaves egg on his face.

And payback will be costly.