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Biden Stands with Ukraine and People Power in Poland

After recovering from that jalapeño-pepperoni pizza with the 82nd Airborne in Poland Friday, President Joe Biden visited Ukrainian refugees at the PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw on Saturday:

The American President then went to the Royal Castle in Warsaw and invoked John Paul II, Søren Kierkegaard, and Abraham Lincoln in his call for the free world to steel itself for a long fight against the autocracy, repression, and brute force of a Russian dictator determined to rub out democracy, liberty, and the rule of law:

President Biden said the Ukrainians’ fight to save their nation from Putin’s invasion is part of the world’s neverending fight for freedom:

…And now, in the perennial struggle for democracy and freedom, Ukraine and its people are on the frontlines fighting to save their nation.

And their brave resistance is part of a larger fight for an essential democratic principles that unite all free people: the rule of law; free and fair elections; the freedom to speak, to write, and to assemble; the freedom to worship as one chooses; freedom of the press.

These principles are essential in a free society. (Applause.) But they have always — they have always been under siege. They’ve always been embattled. Every generation has had to defeat democracy’s mortal foes. That’s the way of the world — for the world is imperfect, as we know. Where the appetites and ambitions of a few forever seek to dominate the lives and liberties of many.

My message to the people of Ukraine is the message I delivered today to Ukraine’s Foreign Minister and Defense Minister, who I believe are here tonight: We stand with you. Period [President Joe Biden, speech at the Royal Castle, Warsaw, Poland, 2022.03.26].

Affirming his deep, abiding faith in democracy, President Biden reminded the world that no single leader alone can save the light of freedom from tyranny’s darkness; freedom triumphs by the great labors of the people:

It’s not enough to speak with rhetorical flourish, of ennobling words of democracy, of freedom, equality, and liberty. All of us, including here in Poland, must do the hard work of democracy each and every day. My country as well.

That’s why — (applause) — that’s why I came to Europe again this week with a clear and determined message for NATO, for the G7, for the European Union, for all freedom-loving nations: We must commit now to be in this fight for the long haul. We must remain unified today and tomorrow and the day after and for the years and decades to come. (Applause.)

It will not be easy. There will be costs. But it’s a price we have to pay. Because the darkness that drives autocracy is ultimately no match for the flame of liberty that lights the souls of free people everywhere.

Time and again, history shows that it’s from the darkest moments that the greatest progress follows. And history shows this is the task of our time, the task of this generation.

Let’s remember: The hammer blow that brought down the Berlin Wall, the might that lifted the Iron Curtain were not the words of a single leader; it was the people of Europe who, for decades, fought to free themselves.

Their sheer bravery opened the border between Austria and Hungary for the Pan-European Picnic. They joined hands for the Baltic Way. They stood for Solidarity here in Poland. And together, it was an unmistakable and undeniable force of the people that the Soviet Union could not withstand.

And we’re seeing it once again today with the brave Ukrainian people, showing that their power of many is greater than the will of any one dictator [Biden, 2022.03.26].

And, yeah, at the end of his well-crafted speech, President Biden threw in one more line, about the Russian dictator who poses this grave threat to global freedom: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.” That’s no gaffe; that’s an honest declaration that if we believe in the great principles that the American President laid out in his speech, if we are committed to the unending work of securing freedom and democracy, we must do all we can to remove selfish dictators from power and never let them return.

30 Comments

  1. Eve Fisher 2022-03-27 10:27

    I am so thankful that Biden is our President. And his speech was right on the money, all the way through.

  2. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2022-03-27 10:40

    I agree with Eve. President Biden delivered a strong, thoughtful, factual speech detailing how the West is helping to defeat Putin’s war machine and justifying our work to arm Ukraine and wage economic warfare on Russia. I invite any critic of President Biden to identify any false statement or incorrect observation on history or principle that the President made in this speech.

  3. cibvet 2022-03-27 11:45

    If trump had been reelected, NATO would have been disbanded. Putin would have had free reign to
    press all through Europe while the US watched democracy die and our dear leader would have set
    himself and his children up as heir to his throne with the blessing of the republican party.

  4. Donald Pay 2022-03-27 12:01

    cibvet is correct. The fight for democracy is going on right here in the United States. Whether it is done by bullets and bombs by a neighboring dictator, or by insurrectionists with flagpoles and gallows or by the pettifoggery of ex-Presidential lawyers and political hangers-on, the political bullies need to be removed from any position of power.

  5. mike from iowa 2022-03-27 14:08

    If you watched the speech and then switched to Fake Noise or OAN for analysis you’d think they did not watch what you just watched. I guess delusional deplorables are gonna deplore delusionally.

    Btw, Chris Wallace said what caused him to leave Fake Noize was the way Fake Noise questioned the truth about 2020 election. Apparently, the racism and hatred against Obama didn’t bother him at all.

  6. Mark Anderson 2022-03-27 19:07

    But Cory isn’t Putin a genius? Together with our self proclaimed genius former president they could have ruled the world. He got cheated out of the Presidency you know. Autocratics are the future for the those who live in Idaho and the rest of the upper midwest, aren’t they?

  7. DaveFN 2022-03-27 20:26

    Biden’s policy has been such as to not escalate. His frustration with his own policy restraint was apparent in his final statement of the speech under discussion.

    The White House, as you must know, is now walking back Biden’s final statement. Putin is not the person to whom someone throws down the gauntlet by suggesting his removal from power without qualification of what is meant by such a statement. The White House is now engaging in needed qualification.

    Or do others see no necessity for such qualification?

  8. Arlo Blundt 2022-03-27 22:35

    Well…I think it is obvious. The world is not safe, cannot operate within the confines of co existence if Putin continues his reign in Russia. Putin has entered into a zero sum game.

  9. DaveFN 2022-03-27 23:07

    Also Blundt

    The world is not safe if the current situation escalates. A statement to remove Putin is nothing but a threat to Putin and does nothing but escalate the situation. How does that make the world safer?

  10. sx123 2022-03-28 00:15

    Biden’s speech was good but he shouldn’t have said this (even if true) or called Putin a butcher. Words matter a lot coming from the POTUS, and I doubt this improves the situation. Certainly doesn’t help diplomacy and might make the situation worse.

  11. cibvet 2022-03-28 00:47

    I guess I will never understand some people who tend to think the world is safe if POTUS ignores the fact that the world will
    never be safe with putin in power. Sometimes you must stand for what you believe or live on your knees like trumpists.
    Putin started this mess and its up to him to end it,or we end it for him. Diplomacy still reigns, but no backing down.

  12. Sion G. Hanson 2022-03-28 07:59

    Biden only said what the rest of us are thinking. I believe that Putin will go the way of the middle eastern leaders Saddam Hussein, Mubarak, and Qaddafi.

  13. mike from iowa 2022-03-28 11:26

    magats have said far worse about Obama and Biden. Many magats openly support Putin and his adventures in eastern Europe.

  14. Ben Cerwinske 2022-03-28 14:00

    Does Biden have a plan to back up those words? I doubt it, since they were unscripted. Therefore, he should not have said them. I can say them, you can say them, but the president cannot without the intent to back them up.

  15. cibvet 2022-03-28 14:25

    Some people watch to much fox tv. Biden said” cannot remain in power”. Nowhere have I seen where he said he would “remove him from power”. They mean two different things with the exception fox tv and other media outlets who want to grab headlines so someone will read the article.

  16. Ben Cerwinske 2022-03-28 14:34

    If I say “You cannot stay in my house” and you stay in my house anyway, then what? If you’re not going to remove the person somehow, then your words mean nothing.

  17. jerry 2022-03-28 15:20

    Geesh, Biden just said those words a couple of days ago. Let it perk and we’ll see what happens. The important thing is, we stand with Ukraine.

  18. Donald Pay 2022-03-28 15:21

    President Bush stood on the top of the pile of rubble that was the World Trade Center and said through a bullhorn, “And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” He didn’t have a plan for how that was going to happen. Sometimes you have to lead from the back and sometimes you have to go right to the front. When Bush said that, I think most of us were right there with him, and we stayed with him until he got distracted by the Iraq war.

    I have no idea how Biden’s statement plays out in terms of future policy, but it was important to say it.

  19. Ben Cerwinske 2022-03-28 15:43

    1. Bush not having a plan isn’t exactly an example that inspires confidence.
    2. Even though he didn’t have a plan, he fully intended to get the military involved. Does Biden?

  20. jerry 2022-03-28 16:48

    Peter Doocy from flake news, has your answer Mr. Cerwinske.

  21. jerry 2022-03-28 16:57

    Hmmm, very interesting “Joe Biden on Monday defended the unscripted remarks he made at the end of an important speech in Poland at the weekend, in which he said that Russian president Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power”, which had prompted hurried efforts by other senior figures in the administration to play down the comment in the face of international criticism.”

    By all means sir, will you walk it back?? Nope, says Joe Biden “On Monday, at an event at the White House with director of the Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Young, to present the 2023 budget proposals, Biden said of his remarks in Poland: “I’m not walking anything back.”” Guardian 3.28.2022

    Sometimes, ya gotta say what’s on your mind. I thank him for that. So, then, what does it mean? It means whatever you think it should mean when you deal with a bully.

  22. Mark 2022-03-28 18:46

    If anyone wants to connect all the dots on Russia-Ukraine and Trump’ and far right’s odd relationship with Putin and Russia- 2 Words: Christian Nationalism. If you want to see where America would go next under Christian Nationalism.. see Russia Ukraine war.

    Must reads:

    Report to Congress on Christian Nationalism and Jan 6:
    https://bjconline.org/jan6report/

    Russian Christian Nationalism and Ukraine:
    https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2022/03/09/missing-piece-about-putin-and-ukraine

  23. cibvet 2022-03-29 01:06

    Mr. Cerwinski, if you were to watch fox tv for 30 days and I were to say you “cannot” watch fox tv anymore,
    it would be expressing my frustration with propaganda that you absorb and repeat.However, if I were to say
    I am going to “remove” the tv, it seems that would be something totally different.

  24. jerry 2022-03-29 02:17

    Turns out that Putin blinked on that Biden remark and says “Russia would only use nuclear weapons against a threat to “existence of the state”
    That’s how you defeat a bully. Do like we used to do in school when someone got out of hand, we would say “____ around and find out”. Bully’s move on. I think we’ve finally found a president that has the balls to defend us. Time for us to send Ukraine what it needs to put the nails in the aggressor Putin’s coffin. Putin needs to be gone so that the Russian people can finally breathe without his knee on their neck.

    Now it’s up to us to put an end to the threat internally from the fascist christian right (wrong). We cannot afford any more death and destruction from the their stance.

    Is it too late for South Dakota to stand for the Constitution?

  25. Ben Cerwinske 2022-03-29 08:12

    jerry and cbivet: It sounds like you guys watch more Fox News than I do. I watch zero. Unless someone is analyzing what Tucker Carlson said, or SNL is doing a sketch, I really don’t think about them at all. They seem to live in your head rent free.

  26. jerry 2022-03-29 09:25

    Oh now Ben, surely you jest sir. cibvet definitely got into your melon with the above comment regarding flake news.

  27. Mark Anderson 2022-03-29 15:20

    Hey Mark, and Im not talking to myself. I believe the percentage of Russian churchgoers is VERY low and their abortion rate is huge. Our right wing Christians are a little slow.

  28. Mark Anderson 2022-03-29 15:29

    civet, I spent over a year commenting on foxie news before they threw me out. It was fun and their viewers aren’t very foxie.

  29. John 2022-04-02 22:15

    If you needed another reason to despise Moscow Murdo Thune and Maria Butina apologist Johnson – consider the recent findings in Bucha, Ukraine.
    A mass gave of 280+ civilians. A dead civilian body in front of most houses. Five nude women dead on the streets, Several dead civilians with their hands tied behind their backs.
    https://www.infobae.com/en/2022/04/02/horror-in-bucha-ukrainian-forces-recovered-the-city-and-found-at-least-20-bodies-of-decaying-civilians/
    This is peak evil. It’s long past the time for the US/NATO/EU to stop it. If Biden/NATO/EU do not stop it – then they are part of the problem. Ukraine needs MIGs, tanks, anti-ship missiles. Now.
    The west ignored Putin’s evil for decades: Vukovar, Srebrenica, 2014 Crimea, Malaysia Fight 007 killing almost 300, and the worthless “red line” against using chemical weapons in Syria.
    ‘Unpunished evil returns winged, with a sense of omnipotence. If the world had punished Russia for what it did in 2014, there would be none of the horrors of this invasion of Ukraine in 2022. We need to fix these terrible mistakes now.’ – Zelenskyy for the Australian Parliament March 31.
    No mercy. No quarter. End peak evil and authoritarianism now.

  30. leslie 2022-04-06 09:04

    @JuddLegum
    BREAKING: The main non-profit group run by billionaire Charles Koch says the US should drop virtually all sanctions and push for a resolution that includes a partial “victory” for Russia, according to an internal email obtained by http://popular.info

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