On March 19, Foreign Policy published a biweekly column featuring Scowcroft Center deputy director Matthew Kroenig and New American Engagement Initiative senior fellow Emma Ashford discussing the latest news in international affairs.
In this column, they discuss how the United States can deter Russian election meddling, the merits of the Biden administration’s interim strategic priorities, and the logic behind the U.K’s commitment to a nuclear weapons buildup.
No matter what Russia does—poisoning a defector, sending aid to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, interfering with U.S. elections—the U.S. response is the same: sanctions. But the election interference is far, far more important than these other issues. If U.S. officials act like all those things are the same and they elicit the same response, it’s no wonder that Washington can’t deter Moscow from election meddling.
I think the solution is to fight fire with fire. If they interfere in U.S. domestic politics, Washington can do the same to them… Basically, make a list of all the things Putin believes are necessary for his regime’s survival and threaten to hold them at risk.
