The European Commission is revising the economic assumptions behind its energy and climate laws package presented last year, saying sky-high gas prices fuelled by the war in Ukraine have strengthened the case for more ambitious energy efficiency goals. There are no major abnormalities in the European Union’s market for carbon emissions, but tighter controls could improve transparency and monitoring, the EU’s securities watchdog said on Monday. We can only wish that our side of the civilisation would not cross any such points of no return. In an escalation leading to nuclear war, each step is a point of no return. This would then unfold into a nightmare scenario, compared to which the Caribbean crisis of 1962 would look like a walk in the park. This would mean that we are in for a long-haul war and that it is no longer realistic to assume that Putin wants it finished before the 9 May parade on the Red Square.Ī long-haul war will be marked by an escalation of the confrontation and atrocities, including the risk of spillovers and engaging a NATO member, directly or indirectly, willingly or unwillingly, in the conflict. Without the presence of foreign leaders such as Erdoğan, Macron, or Boris Johnson around the table, a simple bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy would be a guaranteed flop.īut in a logic of escalation convenient to Putin, we should not be surprised if he maximises his demands and seeks the erasing of Ukraine’s statehood. It’s important to understand that future peace talks will be between Ukraine and Russia, meaning between Zelenskyy and Putin.īut Western guarantors will be needed. While Biden may have excluded himself from future peace negotiations, Macron would undoubtedly be a more helpful interlocutor in the expected peace talks, alongside others, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Last year Biden called Putin a killer, which did not prevent them from meeting in Geneva three months later.īut perhaps a point of no return was crossed in Poland.
Indeed, we may ask ourselves if Biden would ever be able to speak to Putin again. This gives Moscow the excuse to take the measures it wants to take, including the most frightening ones.įrench President Emmanuel Macron jumped in on Saturday, calling for restraint. “I wouldn’t use this type of wording because I continue to hold discussions with President Putin,” he said. Openly hostile rhetoric from Washington helps Russia substantiate its claim that the fundamental US objective is destroying the Russian Federation. They must already have a pretty good collection. Similarly, we can only imagine how the Kremlin collects hostile and sometimes reckless statements to quote later and justify its future daredevil actions. It would just be too dangerous for the world. We can only speculate if sending a commando to terminate Putin might be in the US ‘Tiger Team’ playbook on Ukraine. Meanwhile, the White House is going to great lengths to repeat, time and again, that it is not seeking to overthrow Putin.
As a result, the US and Russia have never been so close to cutting diplomatic relations completely.Ī couple of weeks ago, a US Senator went as far as to call for Putin’s elimination.
Planned or improvised, Biden’s statements mark a negative escalation in the discourse between the two biggest superpowers. It didn’t look like a pre-planned statement either as he was answering a journalistic question. In any case, the White House lost no time explaining there was no change of policy and that the US did not seek a regime change in Russia.Įarlier that day, during that somewhat emotional trip near the Ukrainian border, Biden called Putin “a butcher”. But apparently, he veered off-script to make the unexpected remark. The detail is important: Biden was in Poland, reading a written speech from a teleprompter. On Saturday, US President Joe Biden referred to his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin in a rather unusual way, saying, “ For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power“.
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