Former Amb. Ric Grenell told Newsmax on Saturday that President Joe Biden is trying to act "tough" with Russia over the Ukraine crisis because of his failure in Afghanistan earlier this year.
"I am a little concerned that the Biden administration is having this kind of pendulum swing after such a failure in Afghanistan," Grenell told "Saturday Report."
"The world saw what a disaster Joe Biden and his administration did in Afghanistan, and that really, honestly, impacted many of our allies and others so that they didn't really trust the United States."
Grenell said that now Biden is being "too tough" in his rhetoric with Russia regarding the crisis in Ukraine, instead of using diplomatic tools that could de-escalate the situation.
"Now what we're seeing in Ukraine is this pendulum swing back to trying to be too tough," he said.
"Trying to pretend like the United States really knows what's going on, and we're here to tell you that there's a 'bloody war' on Wednesday. If Joe Biden and (Vice President) Kamala Harris really believe that, then why aren't they putting sanctions on the Russian (Nord Stream 2) pipeline?"
The pipeline is due to open soon and carry natural gas from Russia into Germany and the rest of Europe, becoming a major part of the Russian economy.
Grenell said that instead of using diplomatic tools, like sanctioning the pipeline and removing Russia from the region's banking system, the U.S. could do more to help get to a diplomatic solution to the crisis rather than war.
As Russia stands poised, virtually surrounding the Ukrainian border with an estimated 200,000 troops, propaganda from both Russia and Ukraine is threatening invasions from both sides, including threats of the Ukraine army going into the Russian-backed Donbass region.
Grenell said it's good that most understand the propaganda coming out of Russia is "what they've done for a very long time," and should be dismissed.
"Everybody knows it's Russian propaganda," he said. "This is what they've done for a very long time. and when you call it Russian propaganda, people dismiss it."
Grenell said he hopes Harris, who is attending the Munich Security Conference in Germany is not just there to "give speeches," but to try and solve the problems leading to the crisis.
"We need to see diplomats being creative and diplomatic, rather than official Washington marching to war," he said.
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