LOS ANGELES.–Russian dissident Alexi Navalny’s Feb. 16 death at age 47 in a Russia gulag sparked more threats from the White House of sanctions against 71-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin. President Joe Biden, 81, has used Navalny’s death to pressure Congress into passing another $95.5 billion appropriation bill to continue funding the bankrupt Kiev government and war with Kremlin. Navalny is a peculiar case for Biden to jump on due to the fact that he’s advocated revolution to topple Putin’s Kremlin government. So, with Biden saying he would impose more sanctions on the Kremlin, it shows the extent to Biden’s hostility toward Putin’s regime. It also tells the Kremlin in no uncertain terms that Biden works in Ukraine and elsewhere to undermine Putin’s 24-year reign of power. Biden thinks he can use Navalny’s death to get his $60 billion for Ukraine.
Biden’s very public feud with the Kremlin has made peace all the more impossible at a time when the war could easily morph into WW III or even nuclear war. Biden threatened the most punitive sanctions in world history on Putin if he invaded Ukraine. Putin didn’t cow to Biden’s threats, circumventing all of Biden’s sanctions, selling more oil to China, India and others than ever before. But announcing new sanctions because of Navalny’s death is a new low for the White House mission to get its funding for Ukraine. ‘I think you’ll see in this package that we’re going to be announcing Friday is a set of sanctions—a reign that not only is designed to hold Mr. Putin accountable for now two years of war in Ukraine but also specifically supplemented with additional sanctions regarding Mr. Navalny’s death,” said National Security Spokesman John Kirby.
Kirby pretends that the new sanctions have any meaning other than a publicity stunt, using Navalny’s death, to press Congress to approve his $95.5 billion appropriations bill. “Whatever story the Russian government decides to tell the world, it’s clear that President Putin and his government are responsible for Mr. Navalny’s death,” Kirby said, announcing more sanctions on the Kremlin. Why a U.S. government would comment or apply new sanctions because of an imprisoned Russian dissident is astonishing. It’s almost like Kirby is saying Navalny was on the CIA payroll with the mission of toppling the Putin government. Why else would Navalny’s death have any significance at all to the U.S.? Whatever happens to U.S. prisoners is certainly an internal matter in the U.S. What’s different about Navalny is that he’s a U.S. government and media creation.
All the publicity against the Kremlin could easily backfire on the U.S. seeking eventual concessions on Ukraine from Putin. Kirby’s announcement today about new sanctions shows no interest in setting any conditions for moving the Ukraine conflict to the peace table. “In response and at President Biden’s direction, we will be announcing a major sanctions package on Friday of this week to hold Russia accountable to what happened to Mr. Navalny,” said Kirby. Navalny was serving out a 19-year sentence in a Russia gulag. Since when does U.S. foreign policy consume itself in the fate of prisoners held in foreign jails? Biden has made such a big deal of Navalny because he offered the U.S. false hope of sponsoring revolution in Russia to get rid of Putin. If that’s not interference in a foreign government, then what is? Chinese President Xi Jinping is watching the U.S. very carefully.
Since the Ukraine War and Biden punitive sanctions on the Kremlin, China has been driven into a close economic, military and strategic alliance with the Kremlin. Xi agrees with Putin that Biden caused the Ukraine War by meddling in Russia’s national security. China feels the same way about U.S. foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific. Biden has tried to cobble together an anti-China coalition to confront China in the South China Sea where Beijing has built out several military installations in shallow atolls near the Spratly Islands. Xi fully understands Putin’s concerns about Biden meddling in Eastern Europe, much like he’s done in the Indo-Pacific region. So, when Putin sees Biden slap him with new sanctions for Navalny, it’s a slap in the face, nothing that points to peace talks in Ukraine. Biden must deny during an election year his failure in Ukraine.
Biden committed himself to more sanctions to show his anti-Russian credentials to anti-Kremlin war hawks in Congress. “We don’t know exactly what happened, but there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was the result of something that Putin and his friends did,” said Biden, making wild accusations. How do Biden’s accusations help resolve the Ukraine War, other than continuing to fan the conflict. Biden’s preoccupation with Navalny is purely for political purposes, to squeeze more cash for the Ukraine War from Congress. All the talk of Navalny has given the Kremlin more proof that Navalny was on the CIA payroll for the purpose of toppling Putin’s government. No Russian prisoner gets this much attention unless they’ve played a cryptic government role to subvert the Russian government. Biden continues to harm U.S. foreign policy and national security.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
