As Russia and Ukraine inch closer to war and as British intelligence warns of rumors of a Russian-engineered coup in Ukraine, the West waits to see what’s happening and prepares for the next moves.
Well, that is, everybody in the West except the Biden administration. Instead, the Biden State Department is bringing back a tactic from the Obama years — a little stunt I like to call “hashtag diplomacy.”
Yesterday, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry tweeted the remembrance of an event that took place 32 years ago that day.
“#OTD in 1990, >400k Ukrainians 🇺🇦 joined hands from Kyiv to Lviv to demand independence. It was our first #UkrainianWave. Today we face more than 100k 🇷🇺 troops at our border. Join us for a new #UkrainianWave to support our right to choose our own path! RT #StandWithUkraine + 👋,” the tweet read.
Ned Price, the U.S. State Department spokesperson, retweeted with the hashtag and the waving emoji.
.@StateDept is with Ukraine. We #StandWithUkraine 👋 https://t.co/9z7dhjTenz
— Ned Price (@StateDeptSpox) January 22, 2022
Secretary of State Antony Blinken chimed in too.
I #StandWithUkraine. @StateDept stands with Ukraine. The United States stands with Ukraine. https://t.co/7Vj0amAf22
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) January 22, 2022
Sure, Price and Blinken did what the Foreign Ministry asked them to do, but don’t think people didn’t notice.
Wait. Wait. You're really doing the hashtag thing again? Lord help us.
— Chris Tsotsoros (@ctsotsoros) January 23, 2022
Who knew Russian tanks could be taken out by hashtags?
— Brad (@EastAug) January 23, 2022
If it works as well as #BringBackOurGirls Ukraine is done for. https://t.co/KGxFJDOoRR
— Philosophy Wins (@philosophy_wins) January 23, 2022
Price’s tweet smacks of what his Obama-era predecessor did back in 2014. Remember when Jen Psaki was in Price’s position, and she tweeted her support for Ukraine with a hashtag?
To echo @BarackObama today-proud to stand #UnitedForUkraine World should stand together with one voice pic.twitter.com/VeMt578UdY
— Ned Price (@StateDeptSpox) March 26, 2014
The Obama team loved using hashtags. Don’t forget about pouty-faced Michelle Obama holding up her sign with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, referring to the young Nigerian girls kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists.
Our prayers are with the missing Nigerian girls and their families. It's time to #BringBackOurGirls. -mo pic.twitter.com/glDKDotJRt
— First Lady- Archived (@FLOTUS44) May 7, 2014
I wrote about this phenomenon right here at PJ Media way back when. I wrote, “No one at Boko Haram is saying, ‘Look at their photos. They must really be serious. We should let the girls go.’”
Some girls have escaped and others were released, but the hashtag didn’t save a single one of them. It was merely a symbolic gesture — one that Boko Haram even mocked.
Related: Is Biden Inviting the Very War in Ukraine We Don’t Want to Fight?
Ann Coulter famously parodied Michelle Obama, and boy, did the left get its panties in a wad over it.
My hashtag contribution to world affairs … pic.twitter.com/Wkb8ozYZFC
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) May 12, 2014
The question remains as to what the Biden administration is doing beyond just spreading hashtag-based support. We all know about Biden’s comment at his press conference on Wednesday when he said, “It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera. But if they actually do what they’re capable of doing with the forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine.”
That “minor incursion” comment led to outrage from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who tweeted, “We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones.” Biden’s remark also led the U.S. to evacuate our embassy in Ukraine.
Following those comments, Biden issued a warning that Russia will “pay a heavy price” if it invades Russia. I hear the next step is a sternly written letter.
The only threat of sanctions is the ones that will trigger after Putin has invaded Ukraine. Everything else is just talk — and useless hashtags.
As I wrote in 2014, hashtags merely demonstrate “the real behavior of the Left: sincere intentions trump decisive action. Like the red AIDS ribbons of yesteryear, a photo with a hashtag and the right facial expression shows that you care, regardless of how little you actually do –– and that’s all that matters.”
Blinken, Price, Psaki, and the whole lot of them on the left don’t want to do anything to help Ukraine. They just want you to know that they care.
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