A Heavy Price to Pay?

Chris, Zack, and Melanie talk about the massing of Russian troops
near Ukraine’s eastern border and the Biden administration’s
efforts to deter Putin from invading Ukraine. What is Putin’s
motivation for the actions of the last several months? Are the
Biden team’s threats of crippling economic sanctions in the case
of an invasion credible? How will the different interests of
individual NATO allies affect what President Joe Biden is able to
promise in upcoming discussions? Could our handling of this
potential crisis make it more likely that China will try to take
Taiwan? Chris has some thoughts on media coverage of Omicron,
Zack wishes Donald Trump would stop praising leaders with
authoritarian tendencies, and Melanie laments that the Biden
administration has still not developed an economic strategy for
Asia.


Links:


Josh Shifrinson and Stephen Wertheim, “Acting Too Aggressively on
Ukraine May Endanger It—and Taiwan,” Washington Post, Dec. 23,
2021.


Kori Schake, “Russia’s Aggression in Ukraine Is Backfiring,” The
Atlantic, Dec. 29, 2021.


“Purdue Sends Message to China,” Wall Street Journal, Dec. 17,
2021.


Yuka Hayashi, “US on Sidelines as China and Other Asia-Pacific
Nations Launch Trade Pact,” Wall Street Journal, Jan. 1, 2022.


Francis J. Gavin, “Is Team Biden Winning?”, Texas National
Security Review, Dec. 30, 2021.


Andrew Kramer, Steven Erlanger, and David Sanger, “Russia Lays
Out Demands for a Sweeping New Security Deal with NATO,” New York
Times, December 17, 2021.


Michael Kofman and Andrea Kendall-Taylor, “The Myth of Russian
Decline,” Foreign Affairs, Oct. 19, 2021.


Michael Crowley and Julian E. Barnes, “How Far Would Biden Go to
Defend Ukraine Against Russia?”, New York Times, Nov. 25, 2021.


Sauli Niinisto, New Year’s Speech, Presidentti.fi, Jan. 1,
2022.


Michael Crowley, “Biden Stand on Ukraine is a Wider Test of US
Credibility Abroad,” New York Times, Dec. 16, 2021.


Kylie Atwood, Jennifer Handssler, and Nicole Gaouette, “House
Lawmakers Push Biden Administration to Do More to Deter Russian
Aggression against Ukraine,” CNN, Dec. 14, 2021.


Mark Cancian, “What Would it Take to Defend Ukraine? Potentially,
Billions of Dollars,” Breaking Defense, Dec. 7, 2021. 


Jennifer Millman, “NY COVID Hospitalizations Top 2021 Surge
Levels; Omicron Quintuples Risk of Breakthrough Cases,” NBC New
York, Jan. 3, 2022,
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/coronavirus/ny-covid-hospitalizations-top-2021-surge-levels-as-omicron-drives-95-of-cases/3476250/.


“Future Foreign Policy series featuring Ambassador Robert
Zoellick,” New American Engagement Initiative, Jan. 19, 2022,
12:00 p.m. ET,
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/ffp-series-featuring-ambassador-robert-zoellick/.