The following is taken from the official transcript of a speech made by Joe Biden, Vice-President of the United States, during the JFK Forum at Harvard University in America: ‘Throughout we’ve given Putin a simple choice: Respect Ukraine’s sovereignty or face increasing consequences. That has allowed us to rally the world’s major developed countries to impose real cost on Russia. It is true they did not want to do that. But again, it was America’s leadership and the President of the United States insisting, oft times almost having to embarrass Europe to stand up and take economic hits to impose costs’.