Dec. 7, 2021: Biden’s Whac-A-Mole Covid problem

The Playbook Podcast

POLITICO

Daily News, Politics, Government, News

4.2 • 614 Ratings

🗓️ 7 December 2021

⏱️ 5 minutes

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Summary

There’s still a lot we don’t know about the Omicron variant: It could be like Delta and current vaccines will offer robust protection. But there’s also a chance that Omicron could be vaccine resistant, so vaccine makers are readying a booster to protect against the new variant, just in case. That could be the future: a new variant, followed by a new vaccine booster to defend against it, followed by a new variant… Rinse. Repeat. It’s what we do to fight the annual flu. But it all takes time, and a new coronavirus variant can spread rapidly and kill a lot of people during the process. And, ahead of President Joe Biden’s highly anticipated video conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, sources tell NYT’s David Sanger and Eric Schmitt that the president is “expected to encourage diplomatic de-escalation over the conflict in Ukraine,” and warn Putin that “if he orders the Russian forces poised at the border to invade Ukraine, Western allies may move to cut Russia off from the international financial system and seek direct sanctions on Mr. Putin’s closest associates.” How BIden handles this meeting could mean the difference between a free and independent Ukraine and one overrun by Russian troops. No pressure. Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Senior Producer of POLITICO Audio.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
0:04.4	Hey, good morning, playbookers, I'm Rookumotovalin.
0:07.2	It's Tuesday, and here's a question for you.
0:09.4	What comes after Omicron?
0:11.2	This is your Politico Playbook Daily Briefing.
0:17.8	Ahead of President Joe Biden's highly anticipated video conference with Russian President
0:22.4	Vladimir Putin today, sources tell David Sanger and Eric Schmidt from the New York Times
0:26.6	that the president is, quote, expected to encourage diplomatic de-escalation over the conflict
0:32.1	in Ukraine and warn Putin that if he orders the Russian forces poised at the border to invade
0:37.2	Ukraine,
0:37.9	Western allies may move to cut Russia off from the international financial system
0:41.7	and seek direct sanctions on Mr. Putin's closest associates.
0:45.9	How Biden handles this meeting could mean the difference between a free and independent Ukraine
0:50.0	and one overrun by Russian troops.
0:52.7	Here's a thing, though, it won't be easy, quote.
0:55.2	Biden must convince Mr. Putin that the administration's commitment to Ukraine is deep enough
0:59.4	to cause tremendous economic pain to Russia, even if, as both men know, American forces
1:04.1	would not come directly to Ukraine's aid.
1:06.8	According to the story, some White House officials are already pessimistic that Biden can't really do much to change Putin's mind if it's already set.
1:14.4	If you need a good primary and history lesson on all of this, Robert Burns from the AP has a story about how tensions between Russia and the U.S. over Ukraine trace back to the Cold War.
1:24.5	You could catch a link to that story in today's playbook.
1:32.2	Thank you. to the Cold War. You could catch a link to that story in today's playbook. There's still a lot we don't know about the Omicron variant. It could be like Delta, and
	...

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