Sunday, 27 March 2022

Biden said what we all think but....

Of course Vladimir Putin should not be president of a nuclear-armed Russia, for the sake of world peace and safety. And of course we all agree with Joe Biden that "for God's sake this man cannot remain in power". But everyone with any brain cells, including those in power in Moscow, knows full well that Biden was not threatening a US-led bid to unseat Putin. What he meant was that someone like Putin who has launched an invasion of a sovereign country without any provocation from that country should not be a leader. But the White House tried to clarify his remark, made in a speech in Poland, that he wasn't seeking regime-change, just that he was pointing out Putin should not be allowed to exercise power over a neighbour. In my view that was a pretty desperate and stupid clarification which won't fool Moscow one bit. Biden did not say in his speech in Poland that he thought it wrong for the leader of Russia to execise power over a neighbour. He and every Nato leader has been sayig that ever since the invasion of Ukraine was launched. What he said and meant was that Putin was a dangerous man and shouldn't be leader of Russia. Even gaffe-prone Biden knows in his head that he was NOT calling for the toppling of Putin in a regime-change invasion of Russia. But a month into this war and no one is talking or thinking sensibly. Any commwent from the president of the United States that can be interpreted in different ways when the whole world's stability and future are at stake is foolish to say the least, and potentially dangerous. Why does Biden do this? He has a speech all written down in front of him and then suddenly he gets emotional and throws in a line that causes global upheaval. Like when he was asked at a town hall meeting what he would do if China invaded Taiwan and he said the US would rush to Taiwan's rescue. Again, the White House had to try and rewrite his words or at least the meaning of his words so as not to anger Beijing, even though what Biden said is probably true. Is it possible that Biden is much more cunning than we think and on each occasion he was sending out a genuine message to Russia and China respectively and that rather than it being a faux pas, he fully intended to say what he said? Unfortunately I don't think so. I really do think he gets a rush of blood and out it comes. What he says he does mean but he knows as president that he should't say such things because of the repercussions that could follow. So in each case it was yet another Biden gaffe, another example of the president speaking unwisely off the cuff. And yet on each occasion he actually said what we all think: Putin should go, and if Taiwan is invaded by China the US will intervene.

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