President Biden was not happy with the rhetoric from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken following their visit to Kyiv in April, NBC News reported Thursday, citing unnamed administration officials.
In Poland after their trip to Ukraine at the end of April, Austin said that the US planned to help Ukraine “win” in its war and that one of Washington’s goals was to see a “weakened” Russia. Blinken agreed with Austin’s comments, which signaled a major shift in US rhetoric.
“Biden was not happy when Blinken and Austin talked about winning in Ukraine,” one administration official said. “He was not happy with the rhetoric.” The report said that despite Biden being “upset” about the rhetoric, he didn’t reprimand Austin and Blinken once they provided him with the context of the comments. One official said that what Austin said in Poland remains US policy.
Biden doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on when it comes to criticizing fiery rhetoric as he declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” back in March. The White House walked back his remarks, insisting that the US policy in Russia is not regime change, but the damage was already done.
The NBC report said that some administration officials want Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to tone down his rhetoric about how his goal is to drive Russia out of all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea. The US isn’t pressing Ukraine to negotiate with Russia to end the war and is prepared to support Kyiv for years to come, but appears to want Zelensky to set more realistic goals.
“We are planning for a long war. We intend to prepare the American people for that, and we are prepared to ask Congress for more money,” one official said. The US has already authorized $54 billion for Ukraine aid, the majority of which is direct military assistance and money for the Pentagon.
Tone down his own administration’s war rhetoric?… How about not ratchet up tensions in the first place and negotiate for peace? Why can’t we ever give peace a chance?…
Peace is peace. Escalation is escalation. Volodymyr Zelensky ran as the peace candidate. War turns everything to crap. I don’t care how Ukraine, Russia, and US leadership rationalize it. I care how they deescalate it & stop it! I am antiwar.
Both siderism rings hollow. The USA, NATO and the Ukraine ginned up this war. Not Russia. I do care how they stop it. The Ukraine should agree to cede all territories that would prefer instead to be part of Russia or independent and should agree to neutralization, demilitarization, and denazification. Then there can and will be peace.
Being “antiwar” does not mean adopting a childish, “it takes two to tango” approach. Rather, it means ascertaining the true cause of this war, and the source of most conflicts in the world. And the USA is the cause here and the source generally.
It’s the Obama State Department and their people repicked to fill Biden positions & their policies being let back in. The 12 intelligence agents claiming the bogus Russian collision delusion put their thumb-on-the-scale. It was linked to Hillary as real journalist Peter Van Burren has proved. I am antiwar, in my way in this divided and propagandized nation. (Despite this) I will ally with who-we-got & build from there. Childish, or not. I don’t need to be antiwar pure and perfect. The escalation needs to stop. The Anglophile chauvinism also. Today’s news about how war really is “Those left behind are mostly the poor and lonely.
The Sun watched hunched old ladies pulling trolleys over glass shards as artillery thundered around. Some don’t seem to care if they live in Ukraine or Russia.
Some want Putin to win. Police chief Oleh Hryhorov said around 35 people were recently arrested for collaborating with Russian forces. For those who do want to leave, the only way out is with the police or humanitarian convoys.”. Ethnic wars are nasty, proxy wars even more exploitative. War turns everything to crap.
Really, senile Joe Biden started the hate with his rhetoric.
Russian Lives Matter RLM or is diversity and inclusion only for select special groups.
Warning from Russia might have rattled the Zionists’ flunky . When Russia made it clear that decision making centers in the West would be attacked he might have got the message, and correctly so, that White House could be targeted.You can not balme the old man. Every one cares for his life whatever age he may be
Austin & Blinken should also tell alzheimer Biden to tone down his rhetoric against Putin…!
Biden is starting to make me miss Trump… I did not think that was possible…
That’s like missing a$$ cancer because one has lung cancer.
The lesser of two evil…?!