President Biden says Putin ‘ should not remain’ the Russian leader…..

“That’s not for Biden to decide,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to state media. “The president of Russia is elected by Russians.”

Biden’s words capped a fiery speech in which he called Putin a “dictator,” warning him not to encroach on NATO territory and urging Ukrainians to steel themselves for a long battle. He framed the Kremlin’s invasion as the “test of all time” for democracy.

His trip came as fierce fighting continued in Ukraine. Officials in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv reported several powerful explosions on Saturday, and a large plume of smoke could be seen billowing in the air….

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President Biden delivered a forceful denunciation on Saturday of Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, declaring “for God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” in a speech wrapping up a three-day trip to Europe intended to bolster unity among U.S. allies against Russia’s actions.

Shortly after the speech in Poland, the White House tried to clarify Mr. Biden’s remarks, insisting that the president was not calling for regime change. “The president’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region,” a White House official said….

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The NY Times does a piece on the history of Vladimir Putin, that Donald Trump probably knows by heart and is envious off….

Did the United States and its allies, through excess of optimism or naïveté, simply get Mr. Putin wrong from the outset? Or was he transformed over time into the revanchist warmonger of today, whether because of perceived Western provocation, gathering grievance, or the giddying intoxication of prolonged and — since Covid-19 — increasingly isolated rule?

Mr. Putin is an enigma, but he is also the most public of figures. Seen from the perspective of his reckless gamble in Ukraine, a picture emerges of a man who seized on almost every move by the West as a slight against Russia — and perhaps also himself. As the grievances mounted, piece by piece, year by year, the distinction blurred. In effect, he became the state, he merged with Russia, their fates fused in an increasingly Messianic vision of restored imperial glory…

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top image…Doug Mils/NY Times

bottom image….TASS, via Getty