In the same February 24, 2022, Brady Room briefing, asked why the President had said no one expected sanctions to prevent the invasion, Singh said the goal was “to make this a strategic failure for Russia.” He defined the term. From the official transcript: “Strategic success in the 21st century is not about a physical land grab of territory. That’s what Putin has done. In this century, power — strategic power is increasingly measured and exercised by economic strength, by technological sophistication, and your story — who you are, what your values are, can you attract ideas and talent and goodwill. On each of those measures, this would be a failure for Russia.”
The Conservative Treehouse (The Last Refuge) posted the same day under the headline that the White House “Defines Strategic Success Against Russia As the Value of Their Story, Who Is More Attractive to the World.” It quoted the line and called the strategy a cultural measure of “social likeability.” That piece is commentary. A later Treehouse post, October 12, 2022, reused the quote and labeled the strategy “World War Reddit.” Commentary again. The Fact on this page is the official sentence. Treehouse slightly smoothed “would be a failure” in one recap; the transcript is “would be a failure.”
Earlier in the same briefing he said, “This is not the outcome we wanted. It’s both a tragedy for the people of Ukraine and a very raw deal for the Russian people.” Washington Examiner later reprinted those sentences in its leave story. His words, official transcript.