Let me explain why Biden branded Putin as a killer
Biden's harshness towards Putin would be motivated by the desire to give a signal to Europeans, who are intensifying trade and energy dependence on Russia, saying that they must choose between them and the US commitment to European security. Jean's analysis
President Biden is an old "cold war warrior". As Barack Obama's deputy he had expressed his opposition to the "reset" with the Kremlin. He had openly supported the "color revolutions" and the Maiden revolution in Ukraine. He advocated the need for the US to support the Kiev government against the secession of the Don basin and to adopt heavy sanctions against Russia for the annexation of Crimea. In his crusade in support of liberal values, he never ruled out the possibility of focusing on the democratization of Russia, that is, on its own regime change, already the target of the "color revolutions" in the former USSR. He considers it inevitable that Putin's Russia will increasingly bind itself to China, which he considers an existential adversary of the US. He suspects Macron's ideas of "opening" Europe to Russia, to avoid the possibility of a Eurasian NATO, that is, of an organic alliance between Moscow and Beijing, which would overthrow the "Kissinger triangle". China had in fact become a US ally against the USSR in 1972. It also formally broke the unity of the Communist world and facilitated first the US withdrawal from Vietnam, then the end of the Cold War. With the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) and the BRI (New Silk Road), Beijing is creating with Moscow a Eurasian continental bloc opposed to the USA and its Asian and European allies.
European hopes – and not only – of an improvement in relations between the US and Russia, had been fueled by Biden's decision, taken immediately after the inauguration to extend the validity by five years, beyond its deadline of 5 February. of the New Start. This is the fundamental treaty on the reduction between the US and Russia of strategic nuclear weapons. The five years serve to give time to negotiate a new treaty, which takes into account the erosion of the stability of nuclear deterrence – caused by the development of new technologies not only nuclear, but also conventional, space and cybernetic – avoiding a new race for rearmament. nuclear.
While Trump had clumsily sought an agreement with Moscow, in his improvised and unpredictable semi-isolationist and protectionist policy also towards the EU, Biden with his "exit" on March 15, in which he defined Putin as a " murderer ", cut all bridges for an agreement with Moscow. It is unusual in international politics for one head of state to call another's "murderer". The diplomatic consequences have yet to be seen. However, one can wonder about the reasons that led a character of Biden's experience and moderation to use such an ultimate accusation, which excludes the possibility of further relations between the two leaders. It is not a question of criminals. Of course, there are criminals and criminals. There are useful ones like the Saudi Crown Prince, the Dictator of North Korea, the Taliban or the Iranian Ayatollahs, with whom Biden intends to deal.
This is clearly not the case with Putin. The sole reason for Russian interference in the American election campaign does not hold up. All countries with overlapping interests intervene more or less openly in the electoral campaigns of friends and enemies. Italian politicians circulated proudly wearing caps with Biden or Trump written on them. It may be that Biden's insult is due to his fear of being mistaken for a "mollaccione", both in the US and around the world. More likely it is connected with the meeting in Alaska between Americans and Chinese. It seems that in it the US will confirm the "hard line" towards China. Biden may have meant to the Chinese that the US takes Moscow's alignment with Beijing for granted and considers it irrelevant. Finally, it could be connected with Biden's belief that Putin's regime has much weaker foundations than many think and that the time has come to put pressure on it, while also playing the traditional Russian fear of "yellow peril".
Of course, there are also more sophisticated explanations. Biden's harshness would be motivated by the desire to give a signal to Europeans, who are intensifying trade and energy dependence on Russia, saying that they must choose between them and the US commitment to European security. In short, "America is back", but under certain conditions, which are not just the sending of a few ships to the South China Sea (already in place by France, the United Kingdom and Germany, but strangely not by Italy, which also hopes for the US presence in the Mediterranean and in the MENA countries). That the message was also addressed to Europeans is confirmed by the relevance assumed by the recent meeting of the QUAD (USA, India, Japan and Australia) created to counter China in the Indo-Pacific, which has also decided to produce a billion anti-Covid-19 vials, to be distributed to the countries of Southeast Asia and also to Africa. The EU was excluded.
Of course, the "games" are still open. Aside from the messages of friendship to Europe, Biden has decided to give "a blow to the circle and one to the barrel". He stated that the US will not conclude any preferential trade agreement with the UK if London does not respect the commitments made with Brussels on the controls of the Northern Irish border. In short, Biden is radically changing international politics. The central point is the contrast to China's commercial and strategic expansion. The rest, including the accusation against Putin, is only a side dish.
Finally, it should be noted that, for Italy, relations with Washington could become complicated both for the bizarre idea of signing a MoU on the Silk Road with China, and for the opening of our ports to Chinese control, and for the repeated flirts with Russian exponents, without paying too much attention to whether they are pro-European or pro-Eurasist. It should be borne in mind that Italy needs the US much more than it needs our country. It also needs it in the European Union itself.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/vi-spiego-perche-biden-ha-bollato-putin-come-killer/ on Thu, 18 Mar 2021 08:07:58 +0000.