ORLANDO, Fla. – Republican Indiana Rep. Jim Banks mentioned Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin waited to invade Ukraine till he might work round a “weak American president” like Joe Biden.
The Indiana congressman weighed in on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine throughout a Friday interview with The Every day Sign, critiquing Biden’s “weak” sanctions of Russia to this point.
“If America is really critical about backing off Russia from invading Ukraine and inflicting this battle to go any additional or eradicating them from Ukraine, to start with, then why not hit Russia the place it counts?” requested Banks, proposing 4 options to “in a short time and simply cripple Russia’s financial system.”
“We might sanction their energy-dependent financial system, which the sanctions don’t do,” he mentioned. “We might take away them from the SWIFT banking system, the worldwide banking system. We might sanction Putin straight, hit him the place it hurts. And we might go after the oligarchs round Russia, round Putin, that prop him up.”
Banks’ fourth suggestion is to call Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism for “serving to Hezbollah and quite a lot of our different enemies.”
“This president, who’s so weak on this second, has refused to do all of these issues, and that’s why now we have this battle persevering with to worsen,” he mentioned.
The Indiana congressman mentioned that he believes the Biden administration’s withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan contributed to the current disaster, telling The Every day Sign, “I served in Afghanistan. It nonetheless makes me sick to my abdomen what occurred final summer season.”
“Really, a debacle that prompted a lot embarrassment for America on the world stage,” he added, “and make no mistake about it, Putin was ready for a second like this. He was ready for a weak American president.”
Former President Donald Trump made the world extra secure and safe by means of his “robust American overseas coverage,” Banks mentioned.
“It’s that American weak spot expressed by Joe Biden that has invited Putin to invade Ukraine, however that’s not the worst of it,” he added. “The worst of it’s that Chairman Xi [Jinping] and China are watching each transfer and Russia is doing every thing that they’re doing in coordination with China.”
“China is watching each single weak transfer by America they usually know that they will get away with their final purpose of taking Taiwan away, and that’s disastrous for Western values, for freedom, for democracy all over the world, that they accomplish that,” he mentioned.
The Indiana Republican in contrast Russia to “a fuel station with a military,” noting that Russia relies upon completely on oil and fuel sectors to prop up its financial system.
“Their financial system just isn’t as robust as our financial system,” he mentioned. “Their army just isn’t as robust as our army, however now we have a president within the White Home who seems utterly unwilling to do something robust in any respect to discourage Russia, and that’s why all of that is taking place.”
Discussing comparisons of American army messaging and Russian army messaging, Banks argued that the Biden administration has pushed woke ideology fairly than specializing in build up a stronger army.
“Joe Biden has spent daily within the White Home as commander in chief emasculating our army, whereas different militaries are getting stronger all over the world,” Banks mentioned. “It’s about misplaced priorities. It’s about constructing a army that may struggle and win wars, not utilizing the army as a social experiment on a few of these radical left-wing points, like important race idea, and radical gender theories, and the opposite leftist ideologies that we’re pushing on the army. It’s sickening to me.”
“At a time when the world is on the point of a significant battle, the world just isn’t secure, it’s a harmful place … now we have a president who’s extra targeted on advancing important race idea and a few of these left-wing ideologies on our army, and our faculties, and actually stripping away who and what we’re as People,” he added.
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