by Giuseppe Sarcina
The President: “This man cannot stay in power.” The Kremlin: «More insults». Then the White House staff clarified: It meant it couldn’t exercise its power over neighboring countries
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WARSAW The snap goes to the last line: “For heaven’s sake, that man can’t stay in power.” It is the first time that Joe Biden says it openly: “Vladimir Putin must leave the leadership of Russia”. And it is also the only real and important innovation of the expected Warsaw speech. But minutes after the conclusion, while virtually every newspaper and TV site was headlining that phrase, a White House aide let the reporter pool know: “The President opined that Putin cannot exercise his powers over countries, neighbors or in the region. He neither questioned Putin’s power in Russia nor raised the possibility of regime change in Moscow.” It is an explanation that convinces no one. However, the most likely hypothesis is that Biden spontaneously inserted the exclamation into the text prepared in detail by his staff. Direct verification is not possible because the original copy was not distributed prior to the intervention. Either way, this is the passage destined to be remembered. And basically it is the logical conclusion of a path that is logical and emotional at the same time. A few days ago, Biden called the Russian head of state “a war criminal”. Yesterday afternoon, after visiting a reception center for Ukrainian refugees together with the mayor of Warsaw, he commented dryly: “Putin is a butcher”.
News about the war in Ukraine in real time
The replica of the Kremlin
Can a “war criminal”, a “butcher” legitimately remain in power? In Washington, and not now, they don’t think so. As expected, Putin immediately seized the opportunity to transfer responsibility for the conflict to the American President. Here’s the Kremlin’s note: “Biden’s new insults narrow window of opportunity to improve relations between Russia and the United States.” Over the next few days, Oval Office spokesmen will be called to try and clarify the message on which the US leader’s “speech” at the end of his European trip was built. “It’s going to be a major intervention,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the night before.
The quote from John Paul II
Everything carefully prepared, starting with the choice: the Royal Castle in the Old Town, the treasury of Polish identity, rebuilt after World War II and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Biden begins with the key word of the day: “Don’t be afraid,” one of John Paul II’s most famous quotes. It was 1978, the year the Polish Pope presented himself to the world and also changed the political history of Europe. This is the original meaning of the speech: to put the war in Ukraine on the path of struggles and suffering, which ended in the “victory of democracy” and the “failure” of communism, dictatorship. A route that had started years earlier “in Hungary and Poland in 1956, then in Czechoslovakia in 1968 and again in Poland in 1981 until the fall of the Wall in 1989”. “Don’t be afraid,” Biden repeats, even though “this fight will also be long.” Putin is portrayed as the de facto heir of the Soviet Union, democracy’s old enemy, freedom. Another quote follows, the inevitable Abraham Lincoln: “Right is the basis of power”.
Defeat the autocracies
For about ten minutes, Biden remains at high altitude: “The historic mission of this generation is to defeat the autocracies.” Everyone is waiting for you to land on urgent matters. Andriy Yermak, head of the cabinet of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said, for example: “We are disappointed, we expected more courage, stronger decisions from the top of NATO and the EU.”
But now, here in Warsaw, while it is now dark and very cold, Biden concludes by repeating concepts he has heard several times over the past few days. “For Putin, this war is already a strategic failure. He wanted to divide the West and instead finds himself with an Atlantic alliance never so united and so determined.” “Putin doesn’t even dare to think about occupying an inch of NATO territory.” “I want to say to Russian citizens: You are not our enemy.” It seems to be over, with some emotions and no big news. Instead, Biden throws everything over a few seconds before leaving the stage: Putin has to go.
March 26, 2022 (Modified March 27, 2022 | 01:19)
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