Charles Kim | Saturday, 19 February 2022 07:11 PM
Former Amb. Ric Grenell told Newsmax on Saturday that President Joe Biden is trying to act "tough" with Russia over the Ukraine crisis because of his failure in Afghanistan earlier this year.
"I am a little concerned that the Biden administration is having this kind of pendulum swing after such a failure in Afghanistan," Grenell told "Saturday Report."
"The world saw what a disaster Joe Biden and his administration did in Afghanistan, and that really, honestly, impacted many of our allies and others so that they didn't really trust the United States."
Grenell said that now Biden is being "too tough" in his rhetoric with Russia regarding the crisis in Ukraine, instead of using diplomatic tools that could de-escalate the situation.
"Now what we're seeing in Ukraine is this pendulum swing back to trying to be too tough," he said.
"Trying to pretend like the United States really knows what's going on, and we're here to tell you that there's a 'bloody war' on Wednesday. If Joe Biden and (Vice President) Kamala Harris really believe that, then why aren't they putting sanctions on the Russian (Nord Stream 2) pipeline?"
The pipeline is due to open soon and carry natural gas from Russia into Germany and the rest of Europe, becoming a major part of the Russian economy.
Grenell said that instead of using diplomatic tools, like sanctioning the pipeline and removing Russia from the region's banking system, the U.S. could do more to help get to a diplomatic solution to the crisis rather than war.
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https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/grenell-russia-biden-energy/2022/02/19/id/1057594/
