Zelensky Rips Biden for Weak Action and Even Lloyd Austin’s Remarks Confirm It – Opinion

Joe Biden repeatedly stated that Vladimir Putin plans to invade Ukraine. If he does so, the U.S. would impose severe sanctions on him.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin appeared on “This Week” with Martha Raddatz, and while he said he thought that the invasion was coming — and he didn’t think Putin was bluffing because he had assembled everything he would need for an invasion — Austin called into question how much effect the sanctions contemplated would have on Putin himself.

The sanctions that we talked about, you know, we’re very serious about, and these are sanctions that will have effects that Mr. Putin has not realized before.

You know, the sad part about this, Martha, is that it may not affect Mr. Putin to the degree that it’s going to affect the average Russian. And, you know, the decisions that he’s making now will bring about a lot of pain and suffering on his comrades in Russia.

Translation? They know – even now – that, despite what Biden has been saying, the sanctions they’re contemplating aren’t going to affect him personally as much as the average Russian. Why should he bother? He doesn’t care if it hurts the average Russian, only if it affects him. We reported that he had allegedly removed the most severe sanctions from the table.

Raddatz also noted that sanctions like these could have a negative impact on other countries around the globe, which may include Americans.

These sanctions could also have an impact on the American people. Russia is the third-largest oil producer worldwide. Any disruptions in the global oil market may lead to shortages of European oil and raise gas prices in America.

Indeed, because under Biden, he’s so harmed our energy independence and increased substantially the oil we are buying from Russia. It is absurd that we are buying oil from Russia when we can have it ourselves. The crazy liberal policies of Joe Biden and the left — thus making us beholden to those with whom we have a hostile relationship. It is absurd. They can also hit Russian oil now with sanctions, which will have an impact on us.

At the Munich Security Conference, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — who has also questioned the inevitability of a further invasion and previously called for pre-emptive sanctions — ripped the weak response of the Biden Administration, yet again, for refusing to resort to pre-emptive sanctions.

Zelensky, too, urged Western leaders to spend less time warning Kyiv about the number of Russian troops on Ukraine’s doorstep, and to instead break their “silence” about how their nations planned to respond. Zelensky, speaking to CNN Munich, urged the United States to make clear what sanctions it would impose upon Russia to deter any future actions.

“We don’t need your sanctions after the bombardment will happen and after our country will be fired at, or after we will have no borders and after we will have no economy or part of our country will be occupied,” Zelensky said. “Why would we need those sanctions then?”

On Sunday, the ex-U.S. Ambassador to NATO Douglas Lute also questioned the Biden Administration’s claim about an invasion being “inevitable”. Ambassador to NATO Douglas Lute called into question the Biden Administration’s claim about the invasion being “inevitable.”

Ex-ambassador to NATO from the U.S. Ambassador to NATO @LuteDougSend us your stories @MarthaRaddatz that he doesn’t believe a Russian invasion of Ukraine is “inevitable.” https://t.co/F2iIyelnZ6 pic.twitter.com/72CxYmYx8i

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) February 20, 2022

Lute said there were a lot of other options that Putin might employ apart from invasion and those were far more likely, that it was not “inevitable” — despite all the action and the massive number of troops perched on the border.