admin
Vladimir Putin and his Kremlin mouthpieces are publicly shrugging at the newest Western punishments, treating tough talk and incremental measures as mere background noise while Russia continues its assault on Ukraine. State media and officials have openly dismissed the latest rounds of sanctions as painful but not decisive, signalling Moscow’s contempt for half-hearted pressure from the West. Americans watching this theater should understand that posture for what it is: brazen defiance, not resilience.
That’s why U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker’s blunt assessment matters so much right now; he’s warned that the White House has leverage and that secondary sanctions and other economic measures are on the table if Putin refuses to negotiate a ceasefire. Whitaker made clear the sanctions’ teeth depend on allies stopping the flow of cash to Moscow by cutting energy purchases and enforcing penalties on third-party buyers. The truth is simple: sanctions without enforcement and without allies doing their part are just press releases.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has been using real leverage rather than moralizing from the sidelines, explicitly warning Moscow and even suggesting the possible transfer of long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine if Putin won’t settle. That kind of clarity—threaten consequences and then make the world rearrange itself around American resolve—is how you get results and force negotiations. Putin’s posture won’t change because we wag fingers; it will change because we make the costs unbearable for him and his patrons.
Conservatives should be honest: too many European capitals have been tepid, clinging to Russian energy like an anchor that drags down every sanctions regime. Whitaker has been right to press the obvious point — sanctions only bite when buyers stop buying — and President Trump has signalled he won’t greenlight punishment that isn’t paired with real economic pressure on Moscow’s customers. It’s patriotic and pragmatic to demand our allies stop subsidizing Putin’s war.
If Washington and its partners actually go forward with secondary sanctions and targeted tariffs, the economic squeeze on Russia could be devastating — and it would expose which countries value principle over convenience. Whitaker’s talk of devastating measures and trade penalties is not warmongering; it’s strategy. For the first time in years, we are seeing a credible plan to choke off the revenue that fuels Moscow’s military machine rather than papering over the problem with symbolic gestures.
Putin can sneer, spin, and parade his nuclear saber, but he is not invulnerable — his war depends on customers and technology he can only steal with difficulty. The choice for America is clear: stand down and watch the aggression metastasize, or stand firm with smart economic tools and the willingness to wield them. Our duty is to choose strength, not surrender, and to back leaders who use leverage to secure peace on American terms rather than hollow lecturing that changes nothing.
Hardworking Americans want peace, not perpetual wars of convenience or political theater. If the administration will pair diplomacy with enforceable consequences and demand real sacrifice from Europe’s energy freeloaders, we can force a ceasefire and protect our interests without committing endless blood and treasure. It’s time to stop apologizing for American power and start using it — because a free world depends on an America that is unafraid to act.
