LOS ANGELES.–Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is pushing a new Russian sanctions bill designed to impose 500% tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil, including China and India. Co-sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the sanctions bill aims to back the European bill that tries to coerce 72-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin into an unconditional 30-day ceasefire. Putin has complied with requests to open up discussions, already holding two rounds of talks in Istanbul, making little progress toward a ceasefire but at least agreeing to exchange thousands of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners. Graham said President Trump said the Senate should bring the bill up for a vote but didn’t say whether he’d veto it. All indications point to Trump vetoing the bill because it’s inconsistent with the U.S. restoring normal diplomatic relations with the Kremlin.
Graham knows that a top Trump foreign policy priority is restoring normal diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation. Introducing a new sanctions bill now is entirely counterproductive when it comes to peace talks for Ukraine. Putin would like to settle the conflict but he won’t do it on Zelensky’s terms or under pressure from the EU. Graham thinks he’s doing what he knows from years of spending time with the late Sen. John McCain (R-Az.). McCaine was an anti-Russian war hawk looking for any confrontation possible with the Kremlin. Former President Joe Biden was out of the exact same anti-Russia mold, tossing generations of diplomacy, détente, arms control and global cooperation into the dustbin to fund proxy war with the Kremlin. Biden turned Russia as a cooperating global partner into a mortal enemy during his four years in office.
Now Graham thinks he’s carrying on the Neocon tradition of provoking Russia at a time when Trump is trying to reconcile relations with Putin. What kind of tone defeafness does Graham have introducing a new Russian sanctions bill? Not only will it put off Ukraine peace talks idefinitely it would set back Trump’s plan of nurturing closer U.S. relations. Putin has acknowledged recently difference with Trump over Iran but he also said he appreciates Trump trying to mediate on a Ukraine peace deal. Trump knows what Putin wants for peace and also knows Zelensky’s unrealistic demands. Both must compromise if peace is to come to Ukraine anytime soon. Graham thinks because Trump is willing to let the bill go for a full Senate vote, it means he would sign it into law. Trump has told Graham that this is not the time for more sanctions if serious about ending the three-year-old conflict.
Graham still thinks that Iran is a formidable power hell-bent on getting a nuke to threaten Israel and the United States. He said recently that Iran has not acknowledged Israel’s right to exist. How is that relevant to anything? Israel just fought a 12-day war with Iran exposing for the world to see that Iran has a second rate military, no air defenses or air force to stop Israel’s relentless bombardment. Israel had total control of Iran’s skies for 12 days, leaving Iran’s military in shambles. Netanyahu would have continued the war to go after Iran’s 86-year-old leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei but decided to accept Trump’s truce to end the conflict. Ayatollah agreed to go along with a ceasefire, proving he was spent, unable to continue trading salvos with Israel. Yet Graham still thinks Iran poses a dangerous threat to Israel and U.S. national security.
Graham told Trump that his sanctions bill would help bring Putin to the peace table. But would it really? Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, a reliable figure in the Kremlin, said it would most certainly would not help the peace process. “The senator’s views are well known to us, they are well known to the whole world. He belongs to a group of inveterate Russophobes. If it were up to him, theses sanctions would have been imposed long ago,” said Peskov. Peskov understands that Trump feels different about sanctions and would not sign Graham’s bill. More sanctions have proven counterproductive before and offer little hope of anything positive when it comes to peace in Ukraine. Trump knows his biggest obstacle to peace is not Putin but Zelensky who refuses to accept reality and trade land-for-peace. Zelensky wants Putin to give back all seized sovereign land.
Graham needs to spend his time doing something productive, having served too many years to do anything useful. Lindsey knows that Trump would veto his bill because it would set back U.S.-Russian relations. Graham needs to come up to speed with his obsolete foreign policy looking always to blame Russia for everything. Trump has does everything possible to change the narrative from Biden who turned Russia into a mortal enemy funding proxy war with the Kremlin. Graham’s sanctions bill agrees with is EU counterparts, like German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who thinks Putin only responds to strength. But what kind of strength is it to coerce Putin to meet with Zelensky, when Zelensky rejects all of Russian’s conditions for a ceasefire and peace talks? EU officials should start working on Zelensky to accept compromise to end the Ukraine War.
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.
