Russia’s war on Ukraine is now entering its fourth week. With no signs of Putin’s unprovoked attack slowing down, how can President Biden and other world leaders stop Putin without escalating it further?
- Plus, corporations grapple with abortion access for workers.
- And, Netflix cracks down on password sharing.
Guests: Axios’ Margaret Talev, Emily Peck, and Sara Fischer.
Credits: Axios Today is produced by Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Julia Redpath, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Sabeena Singhani, Lydia McMullen-Laird, and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected] You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.
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Transcript
NIALA: Good morning! Welcome to Axios Today!
It’s Friday, March 18th. I’m Niala Boodhoo.
Here’s how we’re making you smarter today: Corporations grapple with abortion access for workers. Plus, Netflix cracks down on password sharing.
But first, today’s One Big Thing – does President Biden need a new Putin playbook?
Russia’s war on Ukraine is now entering its fourth week with no signs of Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked attacks slowing down. How can President Biden and other world leaders stop Putin without escalating things further? That question was texted to me by Axios Today listener Eric from Kansas City, Missouri, and I thought Axios’ Margaret Talev and I could start our Friday politics conversation with that question. Hi Margaret.
MARGARET TALEV: Hi Niala.
NIALA: Let’s start with Eric’s question. Is there a strategy that could work here? Are there creative ways that the Biden administration, the European Union, other leaders should be thinking about engaging with Vladimir Putin?
MARGARET: I think that that is the big question that the White House, the State Department, the Defense Department, all of the U.S. administration—Democrats in Congress, Republicans in Congress, NATO, the EU, parts of the UN are all thinking about right now. And certainly that Ukraine is thinking about, and we heard Volodymyr Zelensky this week, implore Congress, implore Biden to do more, to think about leadership differently, to recognize that systems like NATO that are built on half century old constructs, aren’t working against the way Putin is playing ball right now. Uh, the challenge is, is this just a matter of thinking creatively and redefining what a hostile act is or what a provocative act is or whether something can actually be defensive when we’ve always thought about it as offensive? Is that really all we’re talking about thinking outside the box? Or does it come down fundamentally to having to try to protect the rest of the world from the heightened risk of a nuclear strike, a biological attack, a chemical attack.
NIALA: Margaret, it was so striking to watch Volodymyr Zelensky address Congress. I don’t think we’ve quite seen anything like that. And a leader in very stark terms laying out pleading with Congress and President Biden to do something or more people will die. Has that been part of why we’ve seen a language shift from President Biden this week also?
MARGARET: It’s interesting. You’ve actually asked a very complicated question. For Biden, part of his calculation is political. He can’t get too far ahead of Western allies because the west has to show that they are united to have maximum strength against Putin, maximum force. He also can’t get too far ahead or too far behind of either the American public or Congress. And there are so many different forces at work here. Americans from the outset have said in polling, they didn’t want to commit military troops anywhere near this conflict. You’re seeing public opinion start to shift in terms of how active, how involved America should be. But it is still a constant calibration. If he leans in hard, if he takes an aggressive tack toward Putin, does that in fact, put Americans at greater risk or Europe at greater risk of some…