Calling Putin a ‘killer’ with ‘no soul’ is not exactly diplomatic finesse
Responsible Statecraft
March 18, 2021
Anatol Lieven
The Biden administration has created an completely unnecessary confrontation with Russia at a time when reasonable working relations with Moscow are extremely important for achieving two immediate and key administration goals: rejoining the nuclear agreement with Iran, and a peace settlement in Afghanistan facilitating U.S. military withdrawal from that country and an end to America’s longest war.
The administration approach combines many of the errors committed by Washington officials, politicians, and the media in recent years. First, you have an intelligence report based on evidence that the public cannot see stating that it is “likely” that the Russian government ordered attempts to influence the elections. This report is then turned by the administration and much of the media into an absolute certainty. In a recent ABC News interview, Biden says Putin will “pay a price” for what the report says his government has done. As usual, the issue is personalized by attributing the decision to Putin himself, and the U.S. statement is accompanied by gratuitously insulting language which is likely to offend even many Russian opponents of Putin. Does nobody remember the advice of Teddy Roosevelt — hardly a weakling on U.S. security — to speak softly and carry a big stick?
President Biden’s public description of President Putin as a “killer” and having “no soul” in that interview recalls what has been described as the “anti-diplomacy” of President Trump and elements of the George W. Bush administration — a seemingly willful determination to worsen relations with other states; but this is from an administration that was supposed to restore dignity and decorum to the conduct of U.S. foreign relations.
