Sam Stein on Putin/Biden Call: Trump Tried a Heavy Carrot Approach, Biden Is Not Going To Do That

‘Clearly, we have four years of evidence that for Trump’s approach, all the carrots he threw at Putin didn’t deter him much’

EXCERPT:

STEIN: “What stood out to me about the Biden call was just how traditional it was for a president to draw those lines and also try to strike those diplomatic tones, especially on testing bans for nuclear weapons and ballistic weapons. This was the normal type of posture towards Russia, Trump's was the abnormal posture towards Russia. The goal essentially should be the same. I’m not totally sure we can apply it to Trump yet because we’re not totally sure what his motivations were, but the goal is essentially to get Russia to be less of a belligerent actor on the international stage, to bring it back into or make it a part of international treaties and institutions, to essentially get it to stop interference in different theaters. Now, Trump clearly tried a heavy carrot approach. Biden is not going to do that, more of a stick and carrot approach. The question we have now is, can that work, will it work? Clearly we have four years of evidence that for Trump’s approach, all the carrots he threw at Putin didn’t really deter him much. The questions of territorial sovereignty of the Ukraine, election interference, hacking, all the stuff that we want to prevent as a country continued and persisted. Will Biden’s new posture change that? I don’t know. I’m not — you know, we’ll have to see. The proof will be in the pudding. But he’s just bringing us back to what is a traditional U.S. presidential posture towards Russia.”

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