On April 24, Emma Ashford was featured in a written interview by Bloomberg about her forthcoming book on energy and foreign policy.
“Prior to the invasion, the Biden administration did a relatively good job continuing to talk to Russia, trying to see if there was a way that this could be resolved other than conflict. Certainly, they did not pursue all the avenues that they could have, as we now know from U.S. officials that they did not really broach the subjects of EU expansion or status within NATO. It’s an open question whether that could have prevented the war, but it would have been better to have tried.
“However, since the conflict began, the administration has stated very clearly what the limits are, that U.S. interests are not sufficient to actually send troops to intervene, but that we will arm Ukrainians and help them in the fight. That is an appropriate balance, and they have struck it well. I’m a little concerned about some of the ways in which sanctions verge from being relatively severe into extremely unprecedented in historical terms; but overall, I think the administration has done a relatively good job.”
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