![]() Their initial plan was to sweep President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from power quickly and install a pro-Russian government. The Russians are guilty of great savagery in Ukraine, but there is no evidence that they intend to exterminate the Ukrainians. The United Nations defines genocide as acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” The concept of genocide has to mean something more than doing truly appalling things that should be condemned by all decent people, or the word loses its meaning. There are many things that Russia can justly be accused of in Ukraine - from launching a war of unprovoked aggression, to displaying depraved indifference to the lives and welfare of civilians, to carrying out war crimes - but committing genocide is not one of them. Once again, the walk-back is appropriate. Now, Biden officials are saying that the president “spoke from his heart” (undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland), “was speaking to the impression that he had garnered” (State Department spokesperson Ned Price), and “is allowed to make his views known at any point he would like” (White House press secretary Jen Psaki). When last weekend Jake Tapper of CNN pressed him on the question, Sullivan wouldn’t go near the word. Just last week, Biden was still refusing to say that Russian atrocities rose to the level of a genocide, and his national security adviser Jake Sullivan was backing him up, arguing that there wasn’t enough evidence for that charge. Instead, Biden continues in the tradition established by Donald Trump of a president routinely saying things at odds with the policy of his own administration. It’s a time in our culture when hardly anyone exercises great care with words, but it shouldn’t be too much to ask that the president of the United States show more discipline than most. ![]() “Because it has become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being able to be a Ukrainian.” He added that “we’ll let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies, but it sure seems that way to me.” “Yes, I called it genocide,” Biden told reporters afterward. ![]() In prepared remarks in Iowa on Tuesday, Biden said the prices we pay in the United States shouldn’t hinge “on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide half a world away.” ![]()
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