The Morning Dispatch: For Russia, Why Now?

Vladimir Putin's dream of restoring the former Soviet sphere of influence has been a long time in the making.

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Happy Wednesday! We thought Aaron Rodgers returning to the Packers on a four-year deal would be the worst sports-related news of the day. Then MLB owners and players failed to meet yet another deadline to reach a labor deal. We should be watching spring training games by now!

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • After congressional leaders made clear in recent days they would force the administration’s hand, President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Tuesday formally banning the import of Russian crude oil, liquefied natural gas, and coal. “This is a step that we’re taking to inflict further pain on Putin,” Biden said. “But there will be costs as well here in the United States.” Crude oil prices increased about 4 percent on the day. 

  • With the ruble already down nearly 64 percent against the dollar since the beginning of the year, the Bank of Russia announced Wednesday it was restricting Russian citizens’ ability to buy foreign currencies and withdraw more than $10,000 in U.S. dollars through September 9. “Banks will not sell cash currency to citizens during the period of the temporary procedure,” the central bank said. “It will be possible to exchange cash currency for rubles at any time and in any volume.”

  • Four of the highest-profile Western holdouts thus far—McDonalds, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo—announced Tuesday they will suspend all operations in Russia in light of the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Amazon announced it would block new customers in Russia and Belarus from signing up for its Amazon Web Services cloud computing.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Julie from Texas

    No, because Putin lies—he would not be satisfied long-term with that deal and would cross the border again. Not to mention that he would learn the terrible lesson that attacking a whole country can get you a chunk of territory and a NATO veto in the end.

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    Arrbee

    Article on Biden's relationship with the energy industry:

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-and-the-oil-industry-are-at-odds-clouding-effort-to-tame-gasoline-prices-11646838614?mod=djem10point

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    Beth

    Yes, take the deal. The current war is Russians fighting Russians. Ukraine cannot win the ground war without NATO involvement, and NATO will not engage directly. Ukraine should not be part of NATO. The Eastern part of the county had portions that declared allegiance to Russia, so let them leave. As long as Ukraine can form any government they like, and elect any leader they choose.

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    AaronT

    Fantastic write-up today. I keep thinking how we, as a society, have been so distracted. Foreign policy wonks and leaders alike were lulled into thinking we were living in some sort of “rules based world order” where things like this couldn’t happen. Defense budgets were slashed. Lacking some common enemy the American people turned our sights on each other. Concerns about dependence on foreign oil were tossed out so countries could say, “look we don’t drill anymore!” (We just buy it from tyrants, but pay no attention to that…)

    Reality check time: evil powers are always out there and are waiting for a moment of weakness to strike. Whatever threat we face from climate change PALES in comparison with WW3.

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    Wanda Anderson

    I’m in awe as I see the patriotism and determination of the Ukraine people. I feel as they do, fight for your country and way of life. They need/should be in NATO already.

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  6. Mary Kathleen

    QOTD: Yes, in return for a ceasefire I would cede the Donbas to Russia and give up the idea of Ukraine joining NATO, because it may be the only possible off-ramp for Putin to walk away from a protracted war which would leave Ukraine in ruins and untold numbers of people dead. Donbas separatism has been an ongoing problem for Ukraine. The idea that Ukraine might one day join NATO was never seriously entertained by NATO, and should not have been carelessly floated. It was provocative to Russia and misleading to Ukraine. US/NATO could establish defensive military bases in Ukraine post-ceasefire, in order to enforce it.

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  7. jdporter3

    Continued Packer ownership of the Bears. Not a bad day, Declan. :-)

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    Jake

    This war is like the 1980s time traveled to 2022 and thought the world was unchanged. The fact that Putin thinks he can keep the truth from reaching Russians is just laughable. The Stalin playbook doesn’t work well in the Information Age.

    Old people, amirite? 😂

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  9. Fudrock

    I feel the need to step in and defend Obama a bit on the “red line” debacle in Syria. Through the lens of Russian aggression against Ukraine, I can understand the issue and classify it as a blunder, but frankly, that’s such a narrow scope.

    I’ll grant that Obama overstepped when he enunciated, extemporaneously, in a press conference that the use of chemical weapons in Syria represented a red line that would merit a military response. When the President speaks, the office lends gravity to any podium, and if there was doubt, he shouldn’t have been so explicit, even though the option was no doubt being explored at the Pentagon. Given the heaps of flak he caught for employing NATO forces in Libya, which guaranteed the success of the rebel forces and the fall of Gaddafi, but also saw to the creation of a power vacuum that led to a 2nd civil war.

    Given that Syria was already a quagmire, Obama pivoted, while broadly recommending the use of military force, and chose to seek an AUMF from Congress, which they did not grant. Subsequently, under a still looming a credible threat of force, the U.S. and Russia hammered out a deal to remove all remaining chemical weapons from Syria.

    Policy is not made in a vacuum, but at the time it seemed like a desirable compromise. And the present rhetoric is too reductionist.

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  10. DORIS ERDMAN

    What evidence is there that Putin would keep this deal anymore than he has kept any other proferred in the past few weeks? None ! Plus all the other negatives fir Ukraine, it would simultaneously weaken Nato

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