At the end of his address from Warsaw, capping off his trip, Biden made a major declaration that quickly sent shock waves across Europe and through the White House press office. "For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power," Biden announced at the very conclusion of a capstone address delivered outside the Royal Castle in Warsaw.
A White House official said Biden wasn't referencing regime change when he said Putin "cannot remain in power.The President's point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin's power in Russia, or regime change," a White House official said.White House forced to clean up multiple other Biden comments that raised eyebrows
On Thursday, during a news conference in Brussels, Biden said the United States would respond "in kind" if Russia used chemical weapons in Ukraine. When asked by a reporter on Friday if that meant the US would use chem cal weapons on Russia, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States had "no intention of using chemical weapons period -- under any circumstance."
"The average citizen, look at how they're stepping up. And you're going to see when you're there, I don't know if you've been there, you're going to see women, young people, standing in the middle of the damn tank, saying 'I'm not leaving. I'm holding my ground'," Biden said. A White House spokesperson responded to the comment, saying, "The President has been clear we are not sending U.S. troops to Ukraine and there is no change in that position."
It's pretty sad when your President cannot be trusted to say what he means or mean what he says. It's one thing to have a verbal slip up every once in a while in off the cuff situations, but it's another when they come during a major speech. Was what he said an ad lib moment for Biden, or did someone actually put that in his speech?
At the end of the day the President has suggested that Vladimir Putin should be overthrown in Russia, that we will use chemical weapons against Russia if they use them first, and that our troops stationed in Poland will be heading off to Ukraine. If he didn't "mean" any of this, then perhaps we need someone a little brighter to carry our message. If he meant this and people around him are having to contradict him, then we need someone a little brighter to make these decisions.
12 comments:
Trump is a ass. But he's not an imbecile like biden.
I figured you would say that
Are US Troops already in Ukraine?
LOOKS like Babbling old fool Joe let the cat out of the bag.
Which version of Joe shall we be listening to?
This President promised "winter of Death" and a "summer of food shortages".
What does it mean to be a cold hearted person?
Someone who's coldhearted is detached and unfeeling. It would be coldhearted to stand there, not caring, when you see a little kid fall and hurt herself. Most people are sympathetic and warm, but those who don't have much feeling for others are coldhearted.
Roger, in fact you cheated in your 1 st wife and assaulted you 2nd to a point she called the police.
“The sound that could not be captured by the cameras after Biden spoke was dozens of staffers slapping the palms of their hands against their foreheads. Predictably, the media in America and elsewhere seized on this statement as if it were some new policy or a NATO war aim and asked if the President of the United States was calling for regime change in, of all places, Moscow.”
“What Biden was doing, of course, was being Joe Biden. He was speaking for all of us, from the heart. One of the more endearing things about the president—at least for those of us who admire him—is that he has almost no inner monologue and regularly engages in the kind of gaffe where a politician says something that is impolitic but true.”
“This was not the time for such a moment, and even those who think Biden has exhibited sterling leadership during this crisis should admit that the president’s remarks were an unforced error.”
The big picture: Biden's speech comes on the last day of the president's trip to Europe, where he met with NATO allies and European Union leaders to offer support for Ukraine one month after Russia began its invasion.
Biden earlier on Saturday met with Ukrainian refugees and Polish President Andrzej Duda, to whom Biden expressed his commitment to protecting NATO allies as "a sacred obligation.""I'm always surprised by ... the depth and strength of the human spirit," Biden told reporters after meeting with Ukrainian refugees, per the White House."Each one of those children said something to the effect, 'Say a prayer for my dad, for my grandfather, for my brother who’s back there fighting,'" Biden said.
State of play: The war, now in its fourth week, has led more than 3.7 million refugees to flee Ukraine in what the UN refugee agency has labeled the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.
CNN
Biden’s mission in Europe this week had one overarching purpose: prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from winning his war in Ukraine. And do it without triggering Putin’s worst instincts, which could turn the war in Ukraine into the prelude to something even more catastrophic. But Biden’s Warsaw speech showed he believes Putin’s defeat can reverse the autocratic tide washing across the world in recent years.
Frida Ghitis
It’s a tightrope walk requiring exquisite balance. We will not know if Biden has succeeded immediately, but what is clear is that Biden is moving forward – something that cannot be said about Putin’s forces stuck in Ukraine. And as Biden explains his plan and enlists European support for it, his tone has been light on arrogance and unwavering in conviction.
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For months, Biden has maintained that the right approach to handling this crisis is to bolster Ukraine’s defenses, rally America’s allies and the international community and call out Putin’s violations. He has done all this while trying to keep the United States and NATO out of direct combat with Russia.
Meanwhile, Putin’s military machine is bombing and killing civilians by the hundreds, striking hospitals and health care facilities, residential buildings and civilian shelters. The suffering of the Ukrainian people is unimaginable. But Putin, so far, is not achieving his objectives.
What Putin wanted was evident in a Russian state-owned news agency editorial declaring victory, published seemingly by accident and then quickly taken down. A few days after the war started, it announced that the West’s “global domination” is over, and “Ukraine has returned to Russia.” No such thing has happened.
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The challenges for Biden and the West are not getting any easier. The worse Putin’s forces perform, the more dangerous the Russian leader becomes. Strongmen cannot survive if they look weak. Putin’s two decades in power were built on his brutal crushing of a rebellion in Chechnya – followed by other muscular displays at home and abroad. His very legitimacy depends on achieving victory.
One month into war, Zelensky is done with niceties
Now, US intelligence believes a frustrated Putin may be planning to use chemical or biological weapons. Worse, the Kremlin’s spokesman refused to deny that Russia would use nuclear weapons if the nation faced an existential threat. But what exactly does that mean?
Remember, Louis XIV’s “L’etat, c’est moi” (“the state, it is me”)? Hyper-powerful dictators think they are the state. If Putin feels an existential threat against himself, how far would he go?
Honestly, the 25th Amendment was crafted for just such a situation as we are now in with Biden asserted. Yet at least two things militate against this from happening. 1) His handlers are running things anyway, and 2) [Vice President] Kamala [Harris], though not mentally incompetent — just stupid — could be worse.
I have never been arrested in handcuffs. They were called to enforce the edition notice.
Cop's hate that
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