“Let him go,” said President Biden when reporters asked if he had a message for Vladimir Putin on Thursday’s arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, then weirdly claiming, “We’re in the process.”
Vlad must be quaking in his boots, especially after Veep Kamala Harris announced, “We will not tolerate — and condemn, in fact — repression of journalists.”
Yet they are tolerating it: Biden also said that any actual repercussions, such as expelling Russian diplomats, are so far off the table.
Condemn away, Kamala.
Putin’s annoyed that Gershkovich recently filed a story exposing Russia’s economic decline since it invaded Ukraine, and the thugocrat will repress any journalists he damn well pleases.
This is a guy whose forces target civilians and hospitals, after all.
Plus, his supply of high-profile American hostages is running low since he redeemed WNBA star Brittney Griner (after 10 months) in exchange for “merchant of death” Viktor Bout.
Other than giving up the store, the Bidenites have no clue how to handle the Kremlin’s hostage-taking.
That means Paul Whelan, a Marine serving a 16-year sentence on trumped-up spy charges, is out of luck, not to mention two dozen others like Jimmy Wilgus.
The US government’s first duty is to protect its citizens, but this administration’s sent the message that rogue nations can arrest and imprison Americans with impunity.
Putin and his ilk will keep at it until America elects a president willing to answer these outrages with an escalating response.
Biden could start by sending every Russian in the DC embassy back home, then expelling all of Vlad’s “journalists” now in the United States.
Quit pretending Putin is civilized, and treat him as the uncultured mobster he is.
