{"id":430410,"date":"2022-04-12T02:19:09","date_gmt":"2022-04-11T23:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/like-obama-biden-talks-tough-but-doesnt-stop-putins-war-crimes\/"},"modified":"2022-04-12T02:19:09","modified_gmt":"2022-04-11T23:19:09","slug":"like-obama-biden-talks-tough-but-doesnt-stop-putins-war-crimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/like-obama-biden-talks-tough-but-doesnt-stop-putins-war-crimes\/","title":{"rendered":"#Like Obama, Biden talks tough but doesn&#8217;t stop Putin&#8217;s war crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3dfcb70f038\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3dfcb70f038\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/like-obama-biden-talks-tough-but-doesnt-stop-putins-war-crimes\/#%E2%80%9CLike_Obama_Biden_talks_tough_but_doesnt_stop_Putins_war_crimes%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Like Obama, Biden talks tough but doesn&#8217;t stop Putin&#8217;s war crimes&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CLike_Obama_Biden_talks_tough_but_doesnt_stop_Putins_war_crimes%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Like Obama, Biden talks tough but doesn&#8217;t stop Putin&#8217;s war crimes&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Will President Joe Biden\u2019s <em>cri de coeur <\/em>\u201cPutin is a war criminal\u201d become former President Barack Obama\u2019s \u201cAssad must go?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lofty words; noble intentions, for sure. But Obama came and went. Bashar al-Assad is still the president of Syria. That is partly because the American president allowed his initial \u201cAssad must go\u201d to evolve from moral outrage to policy obstacle as he shied away from conflict. Will his successor do the same, uttering high-minded words but producing little action?<\/p>\n<p>Obama declared in August 2011 that \u201cthe time has come for President Assad to step aside.\u201d By April 2015, a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/economy\/assad-must-go-these-three-little-words-present-a-huge-obstacle-for-obama-on-syria\/2015\/10\/19\/6a76baba-71ec-11e5-9cbb-790369643cf9_story.html\">Washington Post analysis noted<\/a> that \u201cObama\u2019s determination to topple Assad remains one of the main points of friction between the United States and Russia in Syria.\u201d And \u201cAvoid that friction\u201d replaced \u201cAssad must go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Obama permitted Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was already a war criminal back then, to preserve his equities in Syria \u201cto avoid friction.\u201d He let his secretary of state, John Kerry, turn <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-syria-crisis-kerry-lavrov\/kerry-lavrov-rapport-smoothed-path-to-syria-deal-idUKBRE98E01W20130915\">a cruel Russian ruse<\/a> \u2014 decommissioning Syria\u2019s chemical-weapons stockpile as a substitute for an American-led punitive military campaign \u2014 into a pretext for inaction. Russia\u2019s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, offered Kerry a fig leaf to disguise a complete lack of balls (pardon my French). It was a farce, as fig leaves go, because Assad continued to murder civilians <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/forensic-architecture.org\/investigation\/chemical-attack-in-khan-sheikhoun\">with chemical weapons<\/a> long after Russia had brokered the deal to remove them.<\/p>\n<p>Putin learned his lesson well. America spoke with a big stick but no longer carried one.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"656\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/AFP_9RA6VY.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Former US President Barack Obama speaks at an event at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow on November 8, 2021.\" class=\"wp-image-21863728\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/AFP_9RA6VY.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/AFP_9RA6VY.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/AFP_9RA6VY.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/AFP_9RA6VY.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>During his tenure as president, Barack Obama called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to be removed from power.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">BEN STANSALL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Obama proclaimed his own red line, very publicly, on Syria\u2019s chemical-weapons use. Assad, with Russia\u2019s cover, tested his mettle and found it wanting. Russia doubled down on its support for its beleaguered Syrian ally, eager not only to regain its lost sphere of influence in the region but to show the world that America\u2019s strong words were empty threats. With Russia in the Syrian skies, its fleet in Tartus and its boots on the ground, every pledge to prevent the next mass atrocity became subordinate to the need to \u201cavoid that friction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now here we are, in 2022, and Russia has invaded Ukraine, unprovoked. Moscow dehumanized its victims to fan the flames of hatred, motivating Russian soldiers to loot and massacre and Russian citizens to cheer the massacre. Meanwhile, the Kremlin quickly shut down any nascent domestic dissent and closed any <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a> platform that dared criticize, as it used the old, true and tested totalitarian playbook to mobilize society.<\/p>\n<p>Russia planned to decapitate Ukraine\u2019s political leadership, intelligentsia, civil society, political opposition. Its military indiscriminately unleashed its firepower on civilian targets. It bombed hospitals and humanitarian corridors it agreed to open. Its troops relied on mobile crematoriums in the martyred city of Mariupol, hastily buried murdered civilians in mass graves and burned victims\u2019 bodies after summary executions to cover up their war crimes.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Ukraine-WarMap-April11.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"A map of Russia's attacks on Ukraine as of April 11, 2022.\" class=\"wp-image-21863633\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Ukraine-WarMap-April11.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Ukraine-WarMap-April11.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Ukraine-WarMap-April11.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>A map of Russia\u2019s attacks on Ukraine as of April 11, 2022.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/AP22101783302673.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Firefighters clear the debris and search for bodies under the rubble of a building hit weeks ago by a Russian attack after receiving reports of a smell emerging from the area, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022.\" class=\"wp-image-21863668\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/AP22101783302673.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/AP22101783302673.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/AP22101783302673.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/AP22101783302673.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Firefighters clear the debris and search for bodies under the rubble of a building hit weeks ago by a Russian attack after receiving reports of a smell emerging from the area, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AP\/Felipe Dana<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Which brings us to Biden\u2019s \u201cPutin is a war criminal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His declaration is correct. The evidence overwhelmingly supports it. But US policy is not following through to that statement\u2019s logical conclusion. The question must be asked then: Is the president\u2019s statement akin to what commentators and concerned citizens allow themselves from time to time, given that their abundance of moral outrage is unburdened by the responsibility of leadership? Is it the lament of decency offended by a moral obscenity? Or is it policy?<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n    <\/aside>\n<p>Is \u201cPutin is a war criminal\u201d de<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">script<\/a>ive, prescriptive or aspirational? Will Biden do as his predecessor did, shedding crocodile tears while Syria smoldered? Or will the president leave no stone unturned until Putin, the war criminal, and his willing executioners face the earthly justice of a war crimes tribunal, as they deserve?<\/p>\n<p>This is an honest question. President Biden is not Obama. His administration has done more for Ukraine than Obama\u2019s <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tabletmag.com\/sections\/news\/articles\/holocaust-museum-pulls-study-absolving-obama-administration-for-inaction-in-face-of-syrian-genocide\">ever did<\/a> to rid Syria of Assad. The burdens the president carries and the risks he must confront as he antagonizes Russia are not diminished by the depravity of Russia\u2019s crimes: Putin is not the tinpot dictator with a tinpot economy whom he defended in Syria.<\/p>\n<p>But we need to know: Does \u201cNever again\u201d mean what the words suggest? Or do American presidents proclaim \u201cNever again,\u201d again and again, while they let Bucha and Mariupol become <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spectator.co.uk\/article\/bucha-and-the-dark-echoes-of-srebrenica\">another Srebrenica<\/a>, another <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/russia-ukraine-europe-syria-middle-east-aleppo-64234c1b4e9d5110832c394dcc103ecd\">Aleppo<\/a>, another problem from hell they can care to lament but not afford to solve?<\/p>\n<p><em>Emanuele Ottolenghi is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Twitter: @eottolenghi<\/em>\n                        <\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/04\/11\/like-obama-biden-talks-tough-but-doesnt-stop-putins-war-crimes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Like Obama, Biden talks tough but doesn&#8217;t stop Putin&#8217;s war crimes&#8221; Will President Joe Biden\u2019s cri de coeur \u201cPutin is a war criminal\u201d become former President Barack Obama\u2019s \u201cAssad must go?\u201d Lofty words; noble intentions, for sure. But Obama came and went. Bashar al-Assad is still the president of Syria. That is partly because the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":430411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/newspress-collage-21861651-1649717885995.png?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[18203,127847,74155,991,4975,71577,70868,126128,73234,96844],"class_list":["post-430410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-barack-obama","tag-4-11-22","tag-bashar-al-assad","tag-joe-biden","tag-russia","tag-syria","tag-ukraine","tag-ukraine-war","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-war-crimes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}