GOP Rep. Green: We Have to Go After Russia’s Energy, Piecemeal Sanctions Play Into Putin’s Hands

On Wednesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends First,” Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) argued that President Joe Biden didn’t learn from his mistakes in Afghanistan and that by “piecemealing” sanctions, Biden has responded “exactly the way Putin prepared for him to respond.” And that going after Russia’s energy supply and currency is the only way to deter Russia.

Green said, “[Y]ou can’t win an energy war if you shut down your own energy sector, and that’s what Biden has done. And, unfortunately, that’s the only thing that Vladimir Putin’s going to respond to, is shutting down his energy and then crushing the ruble. That will be a deterrent that he’s not prepared for.”

He added that while it won’t be a quick solution to energy prices, we should “Turn off the regulations, let pipelines flow at full capacity.”

Green further stated, “What people really hoped was the debacle in Afghanistan would be the Bay of Pigs invasion and that he would learn from that like John Kennedy did and be ready for the Cuban Missile Crisis. Here, Biden failed massively in Afghanistan, well, gosh, wouldn’t it have been great if he’d learned from that? No, here, he is piecemealing. He’s responding exactly the way Putin prepared for him to respond. They dumped their dollars. They prepared their banks for the sanctions. He’s just playing into Putin’s hand on this. Again, got to go after the energy, got to go after the currency. That’s how you fix this. That’s how we deter Vladimir Putin.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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