“For God’s sake this man cannot remain in power,” Joe Biden said, referring to Vladimir Putin on Saturday.
As the world watches Putin’s “special military operation” ignominiously falling apart, while we all know what pretty much the whole world wants, U.S. President Joe Biden appears to have escalated tensions by calling – publicly – for regime change in Russia, writes Gary Cartwright.
The White House, caught wrong-footed by Biden’s unscripted comments, reacted with what may be the world’s least convincing denial: “The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbours or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change,” an official said.
Richard Haass, president of the New York based Council on Foreign Relations, expressed 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.”
The day before he delivered his latest gaffe, Biden also appeared to have suggested to U.S. paratroops that they might soon be expected to deploy to Ukraine: “You’re going to see when you’re there — some of you have been there — you’re going to see women, young people, standing in the middle, in front of a damn tank, saying, ‘I’m not leaving.’”
The Russian army appears to have stalled as inadequate equipment, poor logistical support, and plummeting morale take their toll. The news that one senior Russian officer, Colonel Yuri Medvede, commanding officer of the 37th Motor Rifle Brigade, was deliberately run over with a tank by his own men, tells a story of imminent collapse.
Key to western strategy on the current conflict, however, is allowing the Russian president multiple exit options. He must be able to withdraw from the debacle he created in Ukraine whilst convincing the Russian people – and himself – that he has won a great victory.
Putin is a megalomaniac and a sociopath, and holding on to power is his overriding priority: telling him that he is on the way out is telling him that he has nothing to lose in taking the gamble of deploying nuclear weapons. Well done, Sleepy Joe!
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