Biden's Handlers Really Need To Get Him To Shut Up

The President of The United States is a public figure, one of the most consequential figures in the world. Even off the cuff statements matter, especially concerning major events on the world stage.

So far Biden's gaffes regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine have included a multitude of consequential statements. 

- He was  calling for the removal of Putin, which was quickly walked back by his staff as a personal opinion and not that of the President of the United States;  

- He stated the 82nd Airborne would be going to Ukraine. Quickly walked back as a gaffe.

- In a statmeent reminiscent of Obama' famously ineffective redline Biden stated that  Biden: US response to Russian chemical weapons in Ukraine ‘would depend’ on use.

-And of course who can forget the gaffe that green-lighted it all, that Russia's minor incursion into Ukraine might be tolerated?

What the President of The United States says, even in moments of dementia has consequences. 

Now the latest gaffe by Biden:

The Guardian:  First Thing: Biden accuses Putin of genocide in Ukraine.

Expect this to get walked back by his staff post-haste and that even as the President said it (at least twice) it's somehow not the policy of the Oresident of the United States.

Declaring a genocide strongly implies the world has to do something about it. 

As Joe goes running his mouth he's making the situation worse.

Everyone knows the invasion is not going well for Putin, which is unquestionably a good thing. 

However as things continue to go bad, its important to not forget that Russia is a nuclear chemical and biological-weapon armed power run by an autocrat and said autocrat, Putin, needs to be provided a face saving way to get out of this mess he has created, as you don't back someone with the capability Russia has into a wall with no way out.

Autocrats are going to autocrat, and the abject failure of the Ukraine invasion already makes Putin's position in Russia perilous. 

Making statements for his ouster or treating him as a war criminal will make him likely to dig in and potentially expand the war rather than have him do a  face saving withdrawal where he proclaims victory for local consumption and ending the invasion if he feels his position is threatened even if he retreats.

You also don't make threats on the diplomatic stage that you're not willing to back up, and Biden has been rather demonstrative in his lack of backing his statements up, or having them repeatedly walked back by his staff, rendering him even more ineffective.

Biden's minor incursion gaffe, followed by his declarations of regime change, an ineffective chemical weapon warning (that may have already been taken by Russia as allowing them to use chemicals, and now using the "G" word are simply making the situation much worse.  

Combined with his staff walking his comments back or "explaining" them the United States is seen as indecisive in this situation and acting unpredictably which can be very dangerous when instead a clear message that Putin needs to stop the invasion if he wants to remain in power should be sent, along with a clear incentive that the world will lift the sanctions on Russia once they withdraw from Ukraine.

In short there needs to be an end to the meaningless and often reversed statements coming from Biden's mouth, and a more realistic and clear statements to Putin on a way to cease his invasion of Ukraine without it being conditioned on his removal.

Putin Plays Middle East Chess As Obama Struggles To Figure Out Checkers

Get a load of this headline in the Detroit Free Press: Obama offers to work with Putin, Iran on Syria; Putin says work with Assad

Obama declared:

"The United States is willing to work with any nation, including Russia and Iran," Obama said. "But we must agree that after so much carnage there cannot be a return to the previous status quo.”

Any solution must not include continued support for "a tyrant" like Syrian President Bashar Assad, who Obama said has killed his own people in a war that began with a violent crackdown on peaceful protests.

Putin's response was a firm "Nyet" to Obama's words-without-deeds insistence that Assad must go.

In sharp contrast, Russian President Vladimir Putin later called for a global response to fight Islamic extremism akin to a third World War and should be fought alongside Assad's government forces.

“We think it is an enormous mistake to refuse to work with the Syrian government and its armed forces,” Putin told the U.N. “No one but the Syrian forces and Kurdish militia is seriously fighting against Islamic state.”

That sound you hear is generations worth of US dominance and influence in the Middle East being continuously piddled away by the current administration whether negligently or deliberately to create a Multi-polar world with diminished US capabilities and power to influence the course of events.

US doctrine used to have a stated goal of keeping the Russians OUT of the Middle East. Now the Russians have got the initiative and the US seems to be the one being diminished in stature and being shut out of the region.

How's That Reset Button Working For You?

Alternatively titled "This is why you don't give a Russian a Big Red Button as a gift".

The Detroit News: Putin: Russia to focus on new offensive weapons

Great example of the results of sophisticated adult soft-power diplomacy there guys, very nicely done.

Quick Note: Thanks to Tam for the Tamalanche that has hit this post.

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Putin to Obama: How's It Feel To Be My Bitch?

Remmeber all that smart diplomacy, that presentation of the "reset" button to Russia from Hillary Clinton? You know the one where the smart people instead of having a Russian native speaker provide the Russian word for reset, instead likely looked up the word in the dictionary and thus printed the red button with the word for "overcharge" as in charge too much or the overload of an electrical system? That kind of smart?

Well, here's the latest result of that "smart diplomacy":

Russia's Putin urges U.S. caution over Syria in blistering NY Times op-ed

"The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria's borders,'' Putin wrote.

"A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. ... It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.''

Putin even backed his Syrian client Assad by publicly contradicting Obama and claiming that it was the rebels and not the Syrain government that used gas:

"No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists,'' Putin wrote. "Reports that militants are preparing another attack — this time against Israel — cannot be ignored.''

Putin then deftly bitch-slapped Obama for his tough talk that wasn't backed up with more than hot air:

"We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement,'' he wrote.

So not only does Putin pull Obama's chestnuts out of bis artificial red-line fire, he then puts him in his place and reveals him to be a weak and ineffective leader on the world stage. If you don;t think our allies and enemies haven't noticed, you'd be wrong.

It's going to be a very long three more years as Obama drags our standing in the world ever lower.