Biden said what many people around the globe, including world leaders, are surely thinking. Putin has turned Ukraine into a charnel house and his own Russia into a pariah state. He has violated the principle of respect for internationally recognized borders that for more than seven decades has kept us from somehow stumbling into an unimaginable World War III…
Do Biden’s words fundamentally change Putin’s view of U.S. and Western intentions? I doubt it; Putin has long accused internal critics of playing into the West’s hands by undermining his rule. Will the words change the way Putin is fighting this war? Again, I’m skeptical; Russia’s tactics have been altered not by any leader’s rhetoric (except Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s) but by the prowess and resolution of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians.
The Kremlin will be happy to use the “cannot remain in power” line as propaganda, perhaps as purported support for Putin’s claim that Ukraine is not a “real” country but rather a tool of NATO “aggression” against Russia. But Putin’s much bigger concern, if he is thinking logically, should be the military weapons and other gear that NATO and other Western nations are providing — the Javelin missiles that have destroyed hundreds of Russian tanks, according to the Ukrainian government, or the Stinger missiles that have helped down dozens of Russian aircraft.
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