INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
President Joe Biden's apparent call for Vladimir Putin's exit reverberated instantly around the world, sparking an administration rush
gaffe" by one Republican senator.A senior United States analyst said it could have the effect of lengthening the war.And even France's
president warned such language could "escalate" a conflict the United States and its NATO allies have sought at all costs to contain, and
undercut Western efforts to help suffering Ukrainians.The remark came as Biden wound up a forceful speech on Saturday capping what had been
within minutes that Biden was not advocating "regime change" in Russia
advisors into high gear to mollify the criticism.No 'regime change'United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Jerusalem, joined in
forcefully denying Biden was calling for Putin's ouster.Biden's point, Blinken said, was that "Putin cannot be empowered to wage war, or
engage in aggression against Ukraine, or anyone else."The choice of Russia's leader, Blinken said, is "up to the Russians."The
networks that "the United States does not have a policy of regime change towards Russia, full stop."Biden's comments, Smith told CNN's
"State of the Union," were "a principled human reaction to the stories that he had heard" during an emotional visit with Ukrainian
refugees.But President Emmanuel Macron of France, a close United States ally who has spoken frequently with Putin since the invasion,
devastated city of Mariupol.As noted by a senior Republican lawmaker, Senator Jim Risch, the remarks ran 180-degrees counter to the Biden
administration's constant efforts until now to stop the conflict from escalating."There's not a whole lot more you can do to escalate
Committee, said the president had again shot himself in the foot.Biden delivered "a good speech," Risch told CNN, with "a horrendous gaffe
right at the end of it.""My gosh, I wish they would keep him on script."Not everyone saw the remark, however undiplomatic, as carrying an
"Anyone who's a war criminal, who attacks a neighboring country, who's doing all these atrocities..
definitely cannot stay in power in a civilized world."And Michael McFaul, a former United States ambassador to Russia, said on Twitter that
Biden's words needed to be read with nuance."Biden expressed what billions around the world and millions inside Russia also believe
He did not say that the United States should remove him from power
There is a difference."But multiple experts in the United States and abroad weighed in with criticism.Richard Haass, an American diplomat
who heads the Council on Foreign Relations, said Biden had "made a difficult situation more difficult and a dangerous situation more
dangerous.""Putin will see it as confirmation of what he's believed all along," Haass said on Twitter
"Bad lapse in discipline that runs risk of extending the scope and duration of the war."Equally stern, Francois Heisbourg of the
International Institute for Strategic Studies said American leaders would do better not to "shoot off their mouths."
