A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never erase the people's love for
liberty, brutality will never grind down their will to be free.
Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia, for
free People refused to live in a world of hopelessness and darkness.
We will have a different future, a brighter future rooted in democracy and
principles.
Hope and light, decency and dignity of freedom and possibilities,
for God's sake, this man cannot remain in power.
>> For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power.
Those were the controversial statements that President Joe Biden made
over the weekend.
And it's now, being referred to as the moment that Biden went off script, and
allegedly crushed this delicate balance that he's been trying to strike.
Since the beginning of Russia's invasion into Ukraine on February 24th,
Biden's aides actually spent some time trying to walk back
the statement that he made there.
To give the impression that the United States is not attempting
to change the regime in Russia.
Now, Biden's aides quickly insisted that the remark delivered in
front of a castle that served for centuries as a home for polish monarchs.
Was not intended as an appeal for regime change.
Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov also wasted no time in releasing his own
statement saying, quote, it's not for Biden to decide.
The president of Russia is elected by the Russians, and
when it comes to further condemnation.
Emmanuel Macron also jumped in and said that, he would not have used Biden's
words, adding that he saw his task as achieving first a cease fire.
And then, a total withdrawal of Russian troops by diplomatic means.
He told broadcaster France 3 quote, if we want to do that,
we can't escalate in either words or actions.
And he was also specifically referring to Biden's decision to
refer to Vladimir Putin as a butcher.
And look, I don't blame Biden for going off the cuff, and
expressing his personal opinions in regard to Vladimir Putin and his actions.
In fact, it's now being reported that Russian troops are using missiles, or
weapons that include white phosphorus, which is incredibly dangerous.
I'll give you more details on that in just a moment.
But, before I do just want to make it clear that independent sources have not
fully confirmed that yet.
However, the Ukrainian officials have come out and
said that these are the types of weapons that are now being deployed, Cenk.
>> All right, and we'll tell you why the American government is not
making a big deal out of that as well.
So, first on Biden's speech, it was actually a really strong speech,
well crafted, tough.
But walked the right line, really well received all around except for
that last improvised sentence, and now of course it's a big one.
And so, we always push for everybody to be more authentic and
people in news, people in politics, except these cases.
And so, there's a reason why there's a script because these are delicate
negotiations and you could say it's silly.
Okay, fine, fair, it's silly, but is it important?
Yes, it definitely is important.
Why is it silly?
Because, we have to like find a way to call Putin a butcher,
but say that he should not be removed.
Because, if you say he should be removed, that signals regime change,
which actually, logically Putin is the one creating the problem.
So, you would think as a normal human being, well, that would solve it, right?
But know that indicates a larger attack against the Russian government itself.
And of course, people in power take that stuff way more personally,
their egos are involved and maybe their lives are involved.
And so, that could upset the peace talks et cetera.
That's why,
Macron jumps in because the French are trying in their own way lead peace talks.
So you shouldn't have gone off script like that.
If you're a republican saying, can you believe Biden went off script, and
did it poorly?
Are you kidding me?
Let's just put that aside, Donald Trump often went off script and
by the way, to his significant political advantage.
Because, he came across as authentic,
because he wouldn't stick to a script, the reality is he's of course a giant con man.
He just couldn't stick to a script, because he couldn't,
he has trouble reading.
And when he went off script, he would say things like maybe you should inject bleach
into your lungs a total lunatic, okay.
So this is not at that level, but this is a very delicate situation and that's why,
it's receiving so much attention.
But, it also shouldn't distract from the fact that Biden did a great job of
rallying allies in Europe.
And we know the sanctions are working,
because that's we'll show you later in the program.
The oligarchs are now starting to cry and cry at significant levels, and
that's real pressure on the Russian government.
>> Right, I mean, over the weekend, Biden had many meetings with the homies,
NATO allies, of course he met with Eu leaders.
And so look, again, on one hand, I don't blame him for feeling this way,
but he does have to be strategic and control the rhetoric.
Because, what he said there in implying, or
making it seem as though regime change is what the United States Government wants.
It plays right into the propaganda from Vladimir Putin and
the Kremlin itself, this idea that the real enemy here is the United States.
The reason why this invasion happened is, because of the United States, I mean,
it's ridiculous propaganda.
But, Biden's words could be used to add some credibility to that nonsense
propaganda coming from Vladimir Putin himself.
I do also wanna talk about some of the reports coming from La Vive,
where allegedly Russian troops have deployed six missiles,
while Biden was giving that speech.
And the accusation is that Russia has now resorted to using
weaponry that includes white phosphorus.
Now, that is a serious allegation.
But I wanna make it clear that this is the type of weaponry that the United States
military also uses.
Although they claim they use it to create smokescreens not to target civilians,
I'll let you do with that information, what you will.
But here are the details we know.
Now, Ukrainian forces shared photos of the white phosphorus raining down days after
President Zelensky had warned the world.
That Russia was using phosphorus bombs against peaceful people In Ukraine.
White phosphorus is a highly toxic chemical substance known for
its ability to burn.
As one chemical weapons expert put it, very vigorously through human flesh.
In fact, this next video gives you some more information on this type of weapon.
And how it is considered a war crime to use it against civilians, but,
again, it's uses pretty widespread, let's watch.
>> Phosphorous bombs, utilized the white form of the chemical substance phosphorus.
And white phosphorus, is notorious for its horrific
capacity to burn through human flesh with a combination of heat and fire.
Bombs, rockets, mortars, and shells loaded with white phosphorus ignites as soon as
that chemical substance comes into contact with the air, essentially upon delivery.
If they land on a person, they can burn that person all the way down to the bone.
And if the person survives, they can suffer respiratory damage infection, and
organ failure as a result.
So, it's illegal to use phosphorus bombs on civilian targets, and most definitely
a war crime to intentionally airdrop them on densely populated civilian areas.
But as a general rule, white phosphorus actually isn't banned outright by
international weapons law, or the law of armed conflicts.
>> So, when we talk about chemical weapons and how,
Russia potentially using chemical weapons should be considered a so called red line.
We have to take into account that some chemical weapons
don't count including white phosphorous bombs.
Because, other countries including the United States also happens to use it,
although, again, they claim they use it for different purposes.
>> Yeah, well the US explanation is horse crap, Israel says the same thing.
But, what you just saw the explanation of it as soon as it
comes into contact with air instantly goes into effect.
Well, I don't know if you guys know this but smoke travels.
No, no we didn't use it on civilians, really?
Well you exploded in the air, especially in places like Gaza Strip,
where is it gonna go where there isn't civilians?
It's an absurd claim, or does the white phosphorus look down?
No, no there's people down there, no let's not land there.
No, white phosphorus is terrible, should not be used.
The only reason why it's not a massive international story now,
is because the US and Israel also use it.
So, it's funny our media, I mean we make fun of the Russian outlets and
their obvious propaganda, ours is a little bit more subtle, right?
Because if the US and Israel didn't use white phosphorus,
or not just our government.
But our media right now, would be like this is an outrage.
It can vigorously burned through the flesh of Ukrainian children,
which by the way is true.
But our press doesn't say any of that, because we do the same thing.
>> Exactly, now back to Biden's comments just today,
he was asked whether or not he had any regrets for
using that type of rhetoric in referring to Vladimir Putin.
And here's what he had to say.
>> Do you now regret saying that,
because your government has been trying to walk that back.
Does your words complicate matters?
>> Well, yes, three different questions, I'll answer them all.
Number one, I'm not walking anything back.
The fact of the matter is, I was expressing the more outrage I felt towards
the way Putin is dealing in the actions of this man.
Just brutality, half the children in Ukraine,
I just come from being with those families.
But I wanna make it clear I wasn't then, nor am I now articulating a policy change.
I was expressing the moral outrage that I feel, and I make no apologies for it.
Cenk, I feel like that was a near perfect response to the question, right?
No, I'm not apologizing for what I said, our policy hasn't changed,
let me be clear about that.
But, I'm not gonna apologize for referring to him as a butcher.
I'm not gonna apologize,
for saying that this is not a person who should be in charge of Russia.
>> Yeah, no, I love that answer,
it's the dichotomy between domestic policy Biden and foreign policy Biden.
It's one of the most amazing things I've seen in politics.
In domestic policy, he is a disaster,
which we're gonna talk about in just a minute, but
in foreign policy, I mean, he often nails it, right?
And so, I know the mainstream media loves endless wars,
that's why they're pushing him to a World War III here.
Why don't you do a no fly zone?
Why don't you bomb them harder?
Why don't you speak tougher on Afghanistan?
They're like, Goddammit, why are you withdrawing so, but
they're wrong about all of that.
I'm glad we withdrew from Afghanistan, he put us in the Paris climate accords,
that was easy.
He could definitely do more, he should restart the Iran accords, et cetera.
But overall, in Ukraine, he's walked outline nearly perfectly and here,
even when he got it a little bit wrong with that last sentence.
His follow up to that reporter, I agree with Ana was near pitch perfect.
So goddamn right, Putin is a monster, but no, we're not changing our policy.