- Anthony Zurcher
- BBC North America correspondent
In the past few weeks, when U.S. President Biden delivered his speech, he went off-script several times, causing the temperature of U.S.-Russian relations to soar to near boiling point.
During a “big speech” in Poland last weekend, he surprised everyone by improvising what appeared to be a call for Putin to step down.
Speaking to Polish government officials and representatives at the Royal Castle in the Polish capital, Warsaw, Biden once again warned the world at a critical juncture in a conflict between democracy and dictatorship that will affect an entire era.
He stressed that NATO will defend every inch of its member states, and he also pledged to continue to support Ukraine, although he pointed out that U.S. forces will not fight against Russian forces in Ukraine.
His speech was powerful but not out of line, in line with what Secretary of State Blinken and other U.S. officials have said over the past few months.
But just before the speech was about to end, Biden suddenly blurted out, “For God’s sake, this guy can’t stay in power.”
As you can imagine, this sentence made everyone fry.
Dmitry Peskov, a Russian spokesman, said, “This speech, and the content of Russia, is shocking, I would be polite to describe it. He has no idea that the world is not just the United States or Europe.”
The United States itself hastened to clarify.
Biden’s aides said, “What the president means is that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He is not discussing power or regime change in Russia.”
Blinken also stated the same position again later. The speed with which the United States made clarification shows that the United States also understands the dangers that Biden’s words may hide.
Earlier in the day, Biden said Putin was a “butcher.” Last week, he appeared to go beyond the diplomatic rhetoric of his own administration, accusing the Russian leader of war crimes. The two speeches have led to condemnation from Moscow and warnings that Biden’s remarks have strained U.S.-Russian diplomatic relations to the brink of rupture.
Sometimes condemning a country’s leader when making strong remarks, but there is a clear line between that and asking him to step down, a red line that the U.S. and Soviet Union would not touch even in the tense times of the Cold War before, and Biden has crossed the line.
The term “regime change” has been accused of being a term imposed by a powerful state on a weaker state, rather than a demand from one nuclear-armed state to another.
A day later, even some of the U.S. allies tried to cut back on Biden’s claims.
French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that Biden’s remarks could derail ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine.
“We want the war to stop before it escalates further, and if we do that, we can’t let the situation escalate, in words or deeds.”
U.S. lawmakers also expressed concern about Biden’s remarks, with Idaho Republican Senator Jim Risch (Jim Risch), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, directly criticizing Biden’s remarks as a “terrible gaffe.”
“I want him to perform as written, any time he says or hints at regime change, it’s going to cause huge problems, the U.S. government has done everything it can to avoid escalation, and nothing escalates more than calling for regime change. “
unconsidered speech
Biden has also gotten into trouble many times in the past for his inadvertent words, including during his past presidential campaign and during his tenure as vice president in the Obama administration. These unconsidered remarks may be a momentary The mouth was about to blurt out, revealing what he was really thinking, even if his head wanted him to keep this mouth shut.
Tom Nichols of “Atlantic” magazine said that this feature can sometimes be a political bonus for him, allowing Biden to have a real connection with the mood of the American public, but in the current diplomatic situation Next, saying the wrong thing may cause follow-up effects, which is a minus point for him in this regard.
“After meeting with victims of Putin’s brutality, it’s hard to blame Biden for blurting out those words, but what world leaders say has a big impact, especially what the president of the United States says,” Nichols said.
Biden may think that U.S.-Russian relations have been damaged beyond repair as long as Putin remains in power, but to say so clearly could make America’s overarching goal right now — ending the war while preserving Ukraine’s territorial integrity — even more so. hard to accomplish.
The war in Ukraine is not currently going the way Putin wants. The Russian army is caught in the struggle and casualties are increasing, the economy is under pressure due to sanctions, and the entire country is isolated from the world.
The situation could de-escalate further, as the United States and its allies hoped, but it could also make Putin even more desperate and even desperate. If Putin thinks his power is at stake, and at the same time believes that the United States has publicly stated that he wants to step down, then Will he be desperate? The situation may take unexpected developments.