Saturday, March 26, 2022

WILL BIDEN'S MOUTH BLUNDER INTO WAR?

Biden is slammed for mistakenly saying Putin 'cannot remain in power' - while experts warn that despite frantic White House efforts to clean up the mess - the Kremlin will have 'got the message'

 

Daily Mail 

March 25, 2-22



President Biden walks out on stage to give his remarks at the Royal Castle in Warsaw
President Biden walks out on stage to give his remarks about overthrowing Putin. 'For god's sake this man cannot remain in power,' he said of Putin at the Royal Castle in Warsaw

 

President Joe Biden's call for Vladimir Putin to be removed from power is setting off alarm bells among US foreign policy experts, who fear that it could escalate tensions even the Kremlin scales back its war aims in Ukraine. 

 

'For God's sake this man cannot remain in power,' Biden said in a shocking apparent call for regime change in Moscow at the end of a impassioned speech from Poland on Saturday. 

 

The unscripted remark, which the White House scrambled to walk back as the Kremlin expressed fury, came at the end of an otherwise resolute and fiery speech rallying the free world to unite in opposition to autocracy and support of Ukraine.

 

Richard Haass, the Council on Foreign Relations president, tweeted his concerns that Biden had 'just expanded US war aims, calling for regime change.' 

 

'However desirable it may be, it is not within our power to accomplish-plus runs risk it will increase Putin's inclination to see this as a fight to the finish, raising odds he will reject compromise, escalate, or both,' wrote Haass. 

 

'Our interests are to end the war on terms Ukraine can accept & to discourage Russian escalation. Today's call for regime change is inconsistent with these ends,' he added.  

 

Biden's remark could also diminish Putin's interest in compromise and increase his temptation to escalate in Ukraine, 'because if he believes he has everything to lose then he'll believe he has nothing to lose,' Haass said. 

 

Haass went on to tell Politico that a senior Biden official, possibly even Secretary of State Antony Blinken, needs to reach out to their Russian counterpart immediately and explain that Biden's comment doesn't reflect US policy.

 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov quickly denounced Biden, saying 'it´s not up to the president of the U.S. and not up to the Americans to decide who will remain in power in Russia.' 

 

Biden's alarming off-the-cuff remark comes just 24 hours after the White House rushed to clarify other awkward remarks from the president suggesting that US troops would deploy, and had already deployed, to Ukraine.

2 comments:

bob walsh said...

I would hope not, but one wonders.

Trey said...

If you believe that the U.S. doesn't have boots on the ground in Ukraine, then I'd like to sell you some ocean front property in Montana. Their called advisors.