JustOneMinute

Say It Ain't So, Joe!

Joe Biden goes global with his gaffe-o-matic act.

How Biden sparked a global uproar with nine ad-libbed words about Putin

By declaring that the Russian leader ‘cannot remain in power,’ the U.S. president seemed to suggest a drastic change in U.S. policy — prompting a scramble by White House officials

With nine ad-libbed words at the end of a 27-minute speech, Biden created an unwanted distraction to his otherwise forceful remarks by calling for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be pushed out of office.

“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said.

It was a remarkable statement that would reverse stated U.S. policy, directly countering claims from senior administration officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who have insisted regime change is not on the table. It went further than even U.S. presidents during the Cold War, and immediately reverberated around the world as world leaders, diplomats, and foreign policy experts sought to determine what Biden said, what it meant — and, if he didn’t mean it, why he said it.

Well. Biden said it because he meant it. Also, because he's an old guy who's lost whatever weak filter he once had (his gaffe-o-matic act has played for years.)

So now diplomats get to earn their paychecks explaining that Biden didn't mean what he obviously meant. Awkward! And Russian opponents of Putin's regime get to explain that they are true Russian patriots, not CIA stooges. Also awkward!

Well. The recent declaration that we considered Putin a war criminal created a certain tension - would we negotiate with him, or arrest him? Now that Biden has come out in favor of regime change, a negotiated settlement may be even more difficult.

SPINNERS GOTTA SPIN: The NY Times shows us highly trained clean-up artists at work:

Administration officials have been careful not to hint at Mr. Putin’s removal from office, knowing that it would be taken by the Kremlin as a dangerous escalation. Shortly after Mr. Biden’s speech concluded, the White House insisted that the president was not calling for regime change with his comment about Mr. Putin remaining in power, which appeared to be ad-libbed.

“The president’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region,” a White House official said in a statement to reporters. “He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.”

Whatever, dude. Go with that.

But some experts said Mr. Biden may come to regret the comment.

“The White House walk back of @POTUS regime change call is unlikely to wash,” Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said in a tweet. “Putin will see it as confirmation of what he’s believed all along. Bad lapse in discipline that runs risk of extending the scope and duration of the war.”

On the other hand...

Mr. Biden’s statement that Mr. Putin could not remain in power could be perceived “as a call for regime change,” said Michal Baranowski, a senior fellow and director of the Warsaw office of the German Marshall Fund, a nonpartisan policy organization. But he said the comment was unlikely, in itself, to lead to any escalation.

“Russia is responding to military logic much more than political logic,” Mr. Baranowski said, noting the powerful explosions near Lviv heard minutes before Mr. Biden began speaking.

I hope he's right, but Putin clearly misjudged the military logic of this invasion.

Mother's Day Gifts Arriving Early

At the KBJ hearings folks were saying nice things about the future Supreme Court juistice. The proud, adoring look she got from her daughter is every parent's aspiration.

As to the nominee, I'll side with Andrew McCarthy, and especially his description of Sen. Hawley's attack on KBJ's record in child pornography cases:

Senator Hawley’s Disingenuous Attack against Judge Jackson’s Record on Child Pornography

Ben Sasse provided a pithy summary of the behavior of some (not all!) of his Republican colleagues on the Senate Judiciarly Committee: 'Jackassery".

Back In Ukraine

Foreign Policy on "How Putin Bungled His Invasion of Ukraine". A much shorter article would focus on what Putin did right.

Sunday Afternoon

Spring Forward!

 

Or, Spring Forward?!? Enough already!

Daylight Saving Time: Americans want to stay permanently ‘sprung forward’ and not ‘fall back’

Polled days before the annual ritual of ending Daylight Saving Time by changing their clocks, Americans say they would much rather have one time that lasts all year long, one that doesn’t require changing all clocks twice a year. The latest Economist/YouGov Poll finds that nearly four times as many Americans would end the practice of setting clocks ahead in the spring and back again in the fall.

As the headline say, the preferred one-stop is to spring forward and stay there. Never look back!

While Americans would prefer one time for the whole year and not worry about keeping their clocks in order, if there is going to be only one time for the U.S, which one should it be?

Nearly twice as many Americans who prefer not changing their clocks would prefer that Daylight Saving time – not Standard Time – be the one that is kept.

Again, which time one picks isn’t a matter of politics. Instead, it appears age matters more. Adults under the age of 30 are closely divided on whether they want sunlight later into evening (which happens with Daylight Saving Time) or in the morning. Older adults have a clear preference for Daylight Saving Time. So do people from every region.

 

Naturally this won't happen.

Doomsday Watch Open Thread

This is not your grandfather's Red Army. Back in 1949 NATA was formed to prevent the Red Army from rolling through Berlin to Paris. The US never promised 'no first use' of nuclear weapons because there was serous doubt about the ability of the West to win a conventonal war against the USSR.

But as Ross Douthat notes, this Red Army can't even roll to Kyiv. WIth the possible (probable?) exception of the Baltic states, NATO really can afford to defend itself and US nukes can be strictly a deterrent to Russian escalation rather than something we'd use first.

Why The Russian Army Is Struggling

The Russians are still the likely victors but Mark Antonio Wright, NRO editor and Marine Corps Reserve officer explains some of their apparent problems.