Time to Get Tough on Russia

n April 13, as tens of thousands of Russian military forces deployed along the Ukrainian border, U.S. president Joe Biden picked up the phone and called Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia. According to the White House readout of the call, the two leaders discussed a variety of issues before Biden made a request: Would Putin meet him in a third country in the coming months? To sweeten the pot, Turkish media reported the next day that U.S. officials had rescinded the planned deployment of two U.S. warships into the Black Sea.