Russian President Vladimir Putin must be "pretty ecstatic" over President Joe Biden's executive order to stop the Keystone XL pipeline and his other executive orders on the United States energy industry, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley claimed Wednesday.
"One of the things that bothered [Putin] the most was how energy independent we had become," Haley said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom."
Biden had his first call with Putin on Tuesday, with the president raising concerns about the arrest of opposition figure Alexei Navalny and pushing Putin on Russia's involvement in cyberespionage and placing bounties on American troops in Afghanistan.
The two presidents also agreed to have their teams work on extending New START, the last arms control treaty between the two nations, which Haley criticized.
"Biden is jumping back into the New START agreement but not jumping back in," Haley said. "Doing it for five years is something that gave Russia a lot of advantage, and it never included China in it, which is something President [Donald] Trump was trying to do. It is a good first week for Russia right now."
Meanwhile, Biden must also take advantage of the fact that both Republicans and Democrats agree on China being a problem, said Haley.
"What we need to do is have some serious conversations instead of just jumping back into the World Health Organization," she said, calling for a National Security Council hearing on China's role in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Haley also said there are "real leverage points" Biden could use in several areas, including here in the United States and elsewhere.
"Why didn't you talk to the governors before you stopped the Keystone pipeline?" she said. "Iran is producing nuclear weapons ... with China, why aren't you calling them out on human rights issues instead of jumping back into the Human Rights Council. This is about strategy and being smart."
Haley said she would advise the Biden administration to remain out of the U.N. Human Rights Council.
"Right now you have every murderer, dictator, and thief on that council," she said. "If the United States gets back on it you are giving credibility to a farce of a council that does nothing but hide human rights."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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