Newsweek: "[Putin] sensed weakness in the Obama administration... yet another U.S. president, Joe Biden"

Newsweek:

 [Putin] sensed weakness in the Obama administration, and seized Crimea. Eight years further on, he is facing off against yet another U.S. president, Joe Biden, whose new administration is still reeling from an exhausting pandemic battle and trying to counter runaway inflation, and once again he is attacking a sovereign country with impunity.

And U.S. options in Ukraine are limited.

"Sanctions are really the only way the West can go," Sokov told Newsweek. "Sanctions alone, at the same time, will not change Putin's behavior, or will not change much."

Moscow's continued offensive bears witness to that.

"Albeit much slower than I think the Kremlin had anticipated, it is still moving forward," Graham said.

"I see nothing that would suggest that Putin is going to back down until he's achieved whatever his minimal objectives might be," Graham added. "It's hard to define what those are, but certainly I think capturing Kyiv and replacing the government is among them." [https://www.newsweek.com/putin-claims-denazification-reason-oust-ukraines-jewish-zelensky-1687149}