Graded answer: The term dates back to the early 1960s and relates to the use of nuclear weapons, but if Joe Biden’s policy on Russia had to be defined in two words, these would suffice. At each stage of a long rise in tensions, this president, a veteran of American foreign policy, measured the response to the millimeter.

It all started in October 2021, as the “New York Times” detailed in a well-informed article published on Tuesday, February 22 -the day after Moscow recognized the independence of the two self-proclaimed “republics” of eastern Ukraine-, with a series of top-secret meetings in the White House: according to information presented to Joe Biden through his Department of Homeland Security. Council, Vladimir Putin was preparing to invade Ukraine. But in reality, the tension had already been building for months, suggesting that this “new cold war”not only with Russia but also with China, whose “Obs” had made its cover on June 10, 2021.

Russia-Ukraine: on the warpath

We’re. And if it is too early to judge the actions of the American president, we can already give credit for consistency and clarity. Since last fall he has been combining and alternating three strategic maneuvers: exposing in broad daylight the acts and gestures of the head of the Kremlin, threatening Moscow with sanctions, leaving the door open to diplomacy. This triptych, born from the Allied failures in the