When Vladimir Putin had his country's deterrent forces put on "particular combat readiness" on Sunday, the American government frantically tried to decipher the message from Moscow.
In return, President Joe Biden could have declared a state of defense "Defcon 3".
Missile silos, fighter jets and submarines would then have been put on alert.
The White House would only have followed Putin's step.
Of course, he could still have claimed that Washington was banking on escalation.
Majid Sattar
Political correspondent for North America based in Washington.
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Biden decided otherwise.
He chose not to respond.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Putin was trying to escalate to justify his actions.
"Of course we have the ability to defend ourselves - just like NATO." But you need to take a sharp look and clearly state what Putin's move is about.
Once upon a time, Kremlogs were popular people
The Russian President justified the extraordinary step, which affects both its conventional and its nuclear weapons systems, with "aggressive" statements by high officials of leading NATO countries and "illegitimate sanctions".
Psaki accused Putin of fabricating threats that didn't exist.
This is a pattern that has been seen with Putin since the beginning of the conflict.
But it is like this: At no time was Russia threatened by NATO, nor by Ukraine.
And Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said Putin's move reflects his need to scowl at his opponents.
Nothing can be ruled out with “this guy”.
These days, people like to recall an anecdote that Biden himself often tells.
As Vice President of Barack Obama, he once met Putin more than ten years ago and said to him: "I look you in the eye and I don't think you have a soul." Putin then put on a grin and replied: "We both understand us.” It is not known what the two men were talking about at the time.
It was the time of the “reset”, the Obama administration's attempt to risk a fresh start with Putin – after the rift that followed the war in Georgia, even before Putin's interventions in Syria and eastern Ukraine.
His cynical comment that both men understand each other must of course be correctly deciphered.
The truth is that Biden has no illusions about Putin.
Once upon a time in Washington, Kremlogs were popular people.
That was during the Cold War, when American Soviet experts were trying to examine the "black box" between the Kremlin, the Politburo and the Central Committee.
Today, Putin psychology is booming.
Interpretations of the Russian president's motives and condition range from the dangerously irrational to the rational, that is, if you want to see the world from Putin's perspective.