NYT: Sanctions demonstrate you care even if they don’t work and drive the generals into the arms of China. But Aung San Suu Kyi ruined her reputation and Trump smashed everything so how can Biden succeed? With sanctions and virtue signaling ineffective Washington might have to do something practical in foreign affairs. Washington can no longer manage foreign affairs with smoke and mirrors and may be forced to actually build up American competitiveness and strength instead of distributing spoils.
As I argued in the Belmont Club Biden will be constrained in his ability to satisfy the Woke base by the need to compete with Chinese hard power. Biden can only ruin America so much before demoting himself to number 2 to Xi.
In the very different cases of Myanmar and Russia, Mr. Biden is about to discover how years of sanctions fatigue — exacerbated in the Trump administration — and a decline in American influence will make delivering on the promise much harder than when he served as vice president. But, especially in the case of Russia, he may also see some new opportunities.
“We have fallen into this trap that sanctions are the easy answer to every problem,” Ivo H. Daalder, the president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and former ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization under President Barack Obama, noted on Wednesday. “They demonstrate that you care, and they impose some price, though usually not sufficient to change behavior.’’