The U.S. did not impose the "severe" sanctions yesterday that Pres. Joe Biden had vowed repeatedly would be levied if Russia "further invaded" Ukraine. The U.S. is saving the "severe" sanctions for later. This resolved a lingering language question. What exactly did "further invasion" mean? Was it further in the sense of "another," or further in the sense of going "farther" or "deeper" into Ukraine territory? Biden indicated yesterday that it meant the latter when he said that, "This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.... And if Russia goes further with this invasion, we stand prepared to go further [with sanctions]." The sanctions imposed yesterday are expected to have only minimal impact. Alas, because of the time difference with Washington, Czech PM Petr Fiala had to comment on Russia's deployment of troops in Donetsk and Luhansk before Biden did. Fiala called for the impact of the new sanctions to be "severe." Oops. That's the price for not knowing Bidenspeak. [ Czech Republic Biden-speak United States Vladimir Putin ]
Glossary of difficult words
to levy - to impose;
lingering - lasting for a long time or slow to end.