Russian atrocities shock Washington
Washington was, once again, focused on events in Ukraine this weekend. And for good reason. Horrifying evidence of possible war crimes emerged in Bucha and other towns near Kyiv that had been under Russian occupation.
The images of mass graves, evidence of torture and the bodies of civilians, shot with their hands tied behind their back, sparked fresh outrage more than a month into the war. “Concentrated evil has come to our land,” said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in a televised address this weekend. “Murderers. Torturers. Rapists. Looters. Who call themselves the army. And who deserve only death after what they did.”
Writing for the site, Charles Lipson takes a clear-eyed look at the state of the conflict and, with Russian troops withdrawing to the east, anticipates an attritional if less extensive fight punctuated by threats of the use of weapons of mass destruction to deter the US and NATO from doing more to help Ukraine. Hardly a reassuring assessment, and a reminder that, for all the bravery the Ukrainians have demonstrated in thwarting a full-scale Russian invasion, maintaining Ukrainian sovereignty over its land will likely entail a long and bloody war.
The horrors of Bucha have added pressure for further sanctions in the West. Will European leaders be able to maintain their opposition to a ban on Russian energy imports? Meanwhile, Biden officials are discussing more extensive sanctions, including widening the sectors of the Russian economy targeted and adding secondary sanctions on countries that still trade with Russia.
“This guy is brutal and what’s happening in Bucha is outrageous,” said Biden this morning as he returned from a weekend in Delaware. “I’m going to continue to add more sanctions.”
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Biden’s nomination SNAFU
When Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti was tapped to be Joe Biden’s ambassador to India, he presumably expected a smooth transition from head of America’s second largest city to emissary to the world’s second most populous country. Now, though, his conformation is looking unlikely. Since being nominated, Garcetti has faced accusations of ignoring workplace sexual harassment. A number of Senate Democrats have expressed their concerns about the allegations and Chuck Schumer reportedly doesn’t think he has the votes to get Garcetti confirmed.
Needless to say, New Delhi is a crucial posting, especially at a time when one of America’s most important allies in the burgeoning confrontation with China has broken with the West in its response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Botched nominations are becoming something of a trend for the Biden White House. Only last week, the Senate rejected David Weil, Biden’s pick to lead the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division after moderate Democrats sided with the GOP. And more than a year into his administration, Biden still hasn’t put forward a name for the not insignificant role of US ambassador to Ukraine.
Dems say it’s Sinophobic to criticize China
If Biden’s nominee SNAFU is Exhibit A in “Democrats are bad at politics,” then the reaction to Tim Ryan’s tough-on-China campaign ad is Exhibit B. As you may remember from last Thursday’s diary, the brief 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful and 2022 Ohio Senate contender recently released a TV hit called “One Word” in which he blamed China for the economic decline of his state. “China’s winning. Workers are losing,” Ryan says in the ad. “It’s us vs. them. Capitalism vs. communism. I’m not backing down. Are you?”
That’s hardly a controversial line of argument among the Ohio electorate. But for some in Ryan’s own party, it was a step too far. New York congresswoman Grace Meng accused Ryan of “shifting blame away from American corporations’ anti-worker policies and putting a target on the backs of #APPIs.” A statement from the AAPI Victory Fund described the spot as “rife with Sinophobic rhetoric.”
It’s hard to overstate how far removed that view of the fairly innocuous ad is from the impression of the average American voter. And if Democrats cannot freely criticize a genocidal regime that also happens to be America’s biggest geopolitical challenger, that isn’t just bad news for the party. It’s bad news for the country.
What you should be reading today
John R. MacArthur: The descent of New York
Micah Mattix: Was Andy Warhol really an artist?
Charles Lipson: The next phase of the Ukraine war
Jonathan Rauch, American Purpose: Walking the transgender movement away from the extremists
Jack Shafer, Politico: What Mick Mulvaney has in common with Tim Russert and Chris Matthews
Eric Levitz, New York: Once again, environmentalists are sabotaging climate progress
Poll watch
President Biden Job Approval
Approve: 40.8 percent
Disapprove: 54.0 percent
Net approval: -13.2 (RCP Average)
Americans’ opinion on whether employers should mandate Covid vaccination
Yes: 29 percent
No, but the should encourage employees to get vaccinated: 44 percent
Neither require nor encourage: 27 percent (Pew Research Center)
