In an apparent gaffe, President Biden insisted that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” at the end of a speech delivered at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland this past Saturday, which concluded his four day trip to Europe that began last week.
Biden has previously characterized Putin as a “butcher,” a “killer” and a “war criminal,” and has stated that he once told the longtime and increasingly popular Russian leader that he didn’t think he had a human soul.
Biden’s reckless, irresponsible and disrespectful rhetoric has been viewed by many as an open call for regime change in Russia, which other globalists and anti-Russian neocons have also advocated for. The U.S. has a long track record of launching illegal regime change wars over the course of the past 20 years, as well as funding, encouraging and supporting so-called Color Revolutions in targeted foreign nations, including in Ukraine in 2014.
To conclude his speech, Biden denounced Putin as “a dictator bent on rebuilding an empire,” and insisted that “Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia.” Biden said that Ukraine and the entire Western world will have a “brighter future” rooted in “democracy and principle, hope and light,” a future of “decency and dignity and freedom and possibilities.”
“For God’s sake, this man [Putin] cannot remain in power,” Biden then declared, comments which were apparently not part of his speech.
U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, were quick to clarify Biden’s shocking comments, viewed by many as a completely reckless and dangerous escalation of tensions between two of the world’s leading superpowers.
An anonymous White House official was quoted in mainstream media reports shortly after the speech asserting that Biden was “not discussing Putin’s power in Russia or regime change,” flimsily arguing that he simply meant that “Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region.”
On Sunday, Blinken explained to reporters at a press conference in Jerusalem that Biden simply meant that Putin “cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against Ukraine or anyone else” in an attempt to walk back the president’s apparent call for regime change.
Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, responded to Biden’s speech by noting that “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. Only Russians, who vote for their president, can decide that.”
Many commentators were quick to criticize Biden’s remarks, with many questioning whether his dangerous statements really were a gaffe.
Biden’s call for regime change in Russia wasn’t some off-the-cuff “gaffe.” It was declared as the climax of a carefully choreographed, “legacy-defining” speech, in a deliberately chosen venue (Poland) where the call would be well-received. The message was delivered loud and clear
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) March 26, 2022
During the speech, Biden also reiterated the “sacred obligation” that NATO members have to defend each other “with the full force of our collective power.” He warned Russia: “Don’t even think about moving on one single inch of NATO territory,” once again indicating the U.S. president is intent on escalating the tensions existing between the two countries with threats and tough talk.
