What Joe Biden’s gaffe says about his end-game in Ukraine
Nine ad-libbed words mask his caution in dealing with Vladimir Putin
“I AM A gaffe machine,” Joe Biden once admitted, disarmingly. For proof consider his speech in Warsaw on March 26th. Vladimir Putin’s carnage in Ukraine was part of a global “battle between democracy and autocracy”, he declared, closing with an impromptu line: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.” Was Mr Biden advocating regime change in Russia? No, his aides hastened to say, soon followed by the president himself.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “The Reverse Roosevelt Doctrine”
United States April 2nd 2022
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