The White House tries to put out the fire that Biden caused by saying that Putin cannot continue in power | International

The White House has been forced this Sunday to qualify a phrase by President Joe Biden that could be understood as a call to evict Vladimir Putin from power in Russia. During a speech in Warsaw this Saturday, Biden added of his harvest to the text written by his team the phrase: “For God’s sake, this man [Putin] he cannot remain in power.” It was not in the script, White House sources have stressed, nor can it be interpreted as an invitation to overthrow the Russian leader, but must be read in a broader context. “The president’s comment was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors in the region. [Biden] He was not talking about Putin’s power in Russia, nor about a change of regime,” clarified a senior official, protected by anonymity.

But the clarification, minutes after the mess, has not been enough to remedy the stupor of the foreign ministries – France and the United Kingdom immediately distanced themselves, so as not to increase tension – or put out the fire on social networks. The Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has had to come out this Sunday from the alleged coup intent of Biden’s comment. From Israel, where he is participating in an important summit with several Arab countries, the head of US diplomacy has amended the controversy without deviating one millimeter from the official position of the White House, formulated at the beginning of this month, that it corresponds only to the Russians decide who rules them.

“As you well know, and you have heard us say repeatedly, we do not have a regime change strategy in Russia or anywhere else,” the head of US diplomacy reiterated this Sunday. “I think the president pointed out last night that Putin simply cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against Ukraine or any other” neighboring country, Blinken stressed.

Representatives of the US Administration have launched this Sunday to cover the leak; especially after comments like that of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, about the inconvenience of Biden’s words. “No, as Secretary of State Blinken has said, the United States does not have a policy of regime change in Russia. Period ”, the US representative to NATO, Julianne Smith, reiterated in an interview on CNN, describing the president’s comment as a mistake, who a few hours before had called his Russian pair a butcher.

In an interview with the France 3 network, Macron recommended both Biden and the Russian government to refrain from fueling the conflict “neither with actions nor with words” after the US president described Putin as a “butcher”. The French president said that he would like to lead a negotiated solution to the conflict. “We should not inflame this conflict with actions or words,” the president reiterated before distancing himself from Biden’s statement. “I wouldn’t use those words,” he added during the interview. Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov also criticized Biden’s language on Saturday. “A head of state must maintain sobriety,” Peskov told the TASS agency. “Every time such personal insults occur, the window of opportunity for our bilateral relations gets smaller.”

There is a division of opinion, and a multitude of interpretations, about the phrase: that it was a slip or a veiled threat to the Kremlin, if not an emotional reaction after his visit to the refugees on the Polish border with Ukraine, as many maintain, taking iron from the tension. While some Republicans cheered on Biden’s courage, others, more pragmatic, warned that his words could cause even more problems for Ukraine. Among the enthusiasts is Bill de Blasio, a former Democratic mayor of New York. “Is Biden saying something controversial by calling for regime change in Russia? No! Not considering that Putin has been hell-bent on undermining the US election, Putin started the game a long time ago. It’s time to answer, Vladimir. Go ahead, Joe!” the former mayor tweeted.

Biden’s lapse demonstrates his usual entanglements with the art of oratory — “the phrase was an example of the sometimes inarticulate rhetoric” of the president, according to the newspaper The Washington Post—against which firefighters of the Administration have been able to do little in this case. It is not the first time that Biden has been betrayed by his subconscious or has committed a slip of the tongue that the White House must correct. For some analysts, the blur will be indelible this time. “The retreat from the White House [respecto al comentario de Biden] It doesn’t look like it’s going to clean it. Putin will consider it a confirmation of what he has been thinking up to now. A bad lapse that can extend the scope and duration of the war, ”Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said on Twitter. In the same social network, Derek J. Grossman, university professor and analyst at the Rand Corporation, has also negatively judged the phrase. “The net effect will be a further strengthening of China-Russia ties. Today there has been a monumental shift in US policy and an even bigger mistake.”

For now, Bill de Blasio has been left alone clapping.

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