George S Gallitano: Biden administration blaming too much on 'Putin’s Price Hike'

To The Daily Sun,

President Joe Biden has thus been adroit in avoiding armed conflict with Russia. Leading the country through the crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the president foreign policy must facilitate America’s vital national interest. Ultimately, every decision the president makes should be based on what is best for the country; Biden must avoid the temptation to bow to political pressure and partisan rhetoric.

The economic woes Americans are suffering started before the Russian invasion. The causes for the economic decline are many, but they include the ineptitude and malfeasance of Republicans and Democrats, the United States House and Senate, and the Biden administration. And while the country’s economic predicament has worsened since the war in Ukraine began, the White House has apparently decided to blame the country’s economic misery solely on Vladimir Putin, calling the increased cost of literally everything “Putin’s Price Hike.”

President Biden should avoid treating the American people as if they were simple. Americans are well aware that the problems with the economy began before the invasion, and to expect Americans to believe that economic woes are completely the fault of Russia’s Putin suggests that the administration is not in touch with the national perspective.

Americans stand with the valiant Ukrainian people as they fend off the Russian onslaught. Americans also realize that war between NATO and Russia is not in the vital interests of the U.S. The risk of a nuclear exchange is simply too great, and with an adversary as unpredictable as Putin, Americans should be supporting the president. Partisan rhetoric calling for the president to engage in escalatory actions, such as sending MIGs to Ukraine from NATO bases, must cease. The president is trying to lead the country through the Russian-Ukrainian imbroglio, and truly patriotic Americans, regardless of their political affiliations, will, at least on this issue, solidly stand with him.

Americans are suffering. No hyperbolic political rhetoric or slogans will change the fact that the nation’s economy began to come apart long before the war started. The Russian people are also suffering, and economic chaos threatens Russia’s cohesiveness. Dissent there is beginning to fester, and reportedly some 15,000 people have been arrested for speaking out against Putin. Russians and Americans want the same things from life. Peoples’ needs and wants are the same no matter where they live and no matter what languages they speak, and both Russians and Americans understand that even a limited nuclear exchange could have catastrophic and unforeseen ramifications. Life would change forever.

Americans are suffering, but subjecting U.S. troops to war with Russia over Ukraine is not in the vital interests of the U.S. A Russian defeat, and more specifically, a Putin defeat in the Ukraine fiasco is in American interests. Economic pressure, weapons, diplomacy, coupled with the solidarity of the American people, and not slogans such as “Putin’s Price Hike,” will help incentives the Russian people to send Putin to history’s ashcan.

George S. Gallitano

Lakeport