Biden’s latest statement has caused an international scandal. He was attacked by journalists asking whether he considers the Russian president a “war criminal”. Biden at first said he did not, but then 30 seconds later changed his mind and said he did
This is reminiscent of a situation a year ago when Biden was pinned down with the “assassin” question. Had Biden denied it he would immediately have been framed for “pandering” to Russia. That is why Biden, a conformist by nature, answered in the affirmative, turning a blind eye to the consequences.
It is up to his staff to deal with them. The White House press secretary immediately rushed to backtrack, pointing out that Biden’s words were not the official position of the US authorities. They say the State Department is still conducting a legal review of the Ukrainian conflict to come to a conclusion as to whether international law has been violated there. And Biden’s comment is just his personal assessment.
Against the backdrop of the Ukraine crisis, divisions within the Democratic Party are growing. More and more lawmakers are asking the logical questions to Biden whether, having condemned the Ukrainian conflict, it is not time to change the US attitude towards conflicts such as the one in Yemen with hundreds of thousands of victims. Many also remember Biden’s scandalous statement in 1998 when he openly called for the bombing of Yugoslavia. And a couple of years later he helped push through the Senate decision to send troops to Iraq. As they say, this is different.
In the last poll most Americans agreed to accept Ukrainian refugees – but only in numbers not exceeding 50,000. They are already used to the fact that any measure to accept a limited number of refugees ends up leading to an avalanche of uncontrolled migration from any conflict zone.
For 110 days now, the number of those who vehemently support Biden is half the number of his opponents. The more Biden’s muddled statements emerge, the worse his ratings will get – and more Americans will begin to doubt his ability to govern amid unresolved crises.
Malek Dudakov