Biden calling Putin names isn’t helping anyone

There is a difference between me and Biden… Well, there are a lot of differences. For example, I can be sitting at my desk, like I am now, which also happens to be my dining table (hence the desk is full of food stains), finishing my fried eggs and sipping coffee, occasionally scratching my balls, and writing some story on Medium, for example, “Fucking die already, Putin.”

It’s a privilege that Biden doesn’t have. He can’t trash talk. Every word that comes out of his mouth can have consequences of historic scale.

In one interview during his current visit to Europe he called Putin “a butcher”.

In another, speaking in front of thousands, he said, “he cannot remain in power”.

I feel this kind of rhetoric is questionable on three levels.

First, for all my disdain for Putin, this question related to the topic of leadership has always occupied my mind: should you completely rule out a dialogue with your nemesis? I even wrote this story some months ago. Generally, this is what happens in world politics — once someone is labeled as a villain, that villain is not talked to. I guess the principles are the same as with “no negotiations with terrorists”. But I still have doubts. What if Biden picking up the phone and calling Putin, could actually stop the war? I realize of course there is a myriad of complexities to be resolved. All parties would have to make concessions and every concession is a world of its own. Another problem is that by…