Iran, China, and the rest of America’s foreign adversaries were watching President Biden’s summit with Russia closely—and what did they see? Weakness. By making concessions right out of the gate, President Biden didn’t just weaken the United States’ negotiating posture with Vladimir Putin, he weakened it with Hassan Rouhani and Xi Jinping.
President Biden’s first mistake with Putin was giving away his bargaining chips before ever going to Geneva. President Biden gave Putin a no-strings attached five year extension to the new START treaty and lifted sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline without getting anything in return. This was just weeks after a Russian ransomware attack disrupted America’s energy supply and forced the Colonial Pipeline to shut down 5,500 miles of pipeline, leaving millions of Americans without gasoline.
Then President Biden proposed a budget that would cut $4 billion real dollars from the U.S. military budget. How do we expect Russia to take the U.S. seriously if we start defunding our own military?
But nowhere has President Biden shown more weakness than by holding a face-to-face meeting with Putin in the first place. Instead of imposing consequences for Russia’s increasingly aggressive behavior, President Biden rewarded Putin and only emboldened him further.
President Biden did more than just make the United States look weak. He actually made the United States weaker by meeting with Putin. During the meeting, President Biden failed to hold Russia accountable for its cyberattacks on important American infrastructure. And after the meeting, President Biden was not able to contain Putin’s propaganda. While Putin was falsely equating the United States’ War on Terror to Russia’s war on Ukraine, President Biden was flattering the man he had once called “a killer,” complementing President Putin as “tough,” “bright,” and a “worthy adversary.”
To top things off, President Biden shared a list of critical infrastructure with Putin which he told him should be “off-limits” from Russian cyberattacks. Let me be clear—all of America should be off-limits from Russian cyberattacks. And we should never trust bad actors with this kind of list—because it’s more likely criminals will look at it as a to-do list rather than a redline. This was yet another major strategic error.
What the Biden Administration must realize is that strength is the only language Vladimir Putin understands. Showing weakness only encourages repressive regimes. Instead of standing up to Putin, President Biden decided to reward Russia’s misbehavior with a summit on the world stage. If we can’t stand up to Russia’s cyberattacks, how will we stand up to China’s land grabs in the South China Sea or Iran’s nuclear program, state sponsored terror, and continued threats against Israel?
While President Biden might shrink from admitting it, the United States is a protector of freedom in a world filled with bad actors. We need a president who will lead with strength—not weakness.
Congressman Mark Green is a physician and combat veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq. He served on the mission to capture Saddam Hussein, and he interviewed Saddam Hussein for six hours on the night of his capture. He serves on the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees.