The pictures were created on Dec. 6, 2021, and show President Joe Biden in Washington, D.C., and Russian President Putin in Moscow.
This is what happens when a well-meaning incrementalist locks horns with a brutal opportunist.
The opportunist takes advantage of the opportunity.
When one of the most traditional politicians remaining on the scene in the United States faces a historic confrontation with the world's most authoritarian, the ends justify any means.
The authoritarian is taking the initiative.
This is what happens when President Joe Biden, who was badly battered by our messy democracy after a long year in office, comes up against President Putin, who is looking more determined than ever in the third decade of his authoritarian reign.
Unless President Biden can turn the Ukrainian crisis into an opportunity, Europe and the world could be in for a long time.
Unless he can shift the tide so that the U.S. and its allies regain the initiative, he will continue his campaign to reverse the most significant outcome of the Cold War.
The Secretary of State said in Berlin this week that those principles were established in the wake of two world wars and a cold war.
The words were lost in the noise of the news this week and are worth repeating here.
If Russia were allowed to violate those principles with impunity, it would drag us all back to a dangerous and unstable time when the entire world was divided in two, with the threat of all-out war hanging over everyone. It would send a message to other people around the world that these principles are expendable, and that they would have catastrophic results.
Some would argue that the U.S. is not in a position to defend post-Cold War principles, with its own democracy so divided and disheartened, and with its president's popularity falling ahead of mid-term elections.
After Franklin Roosevelt died at the end of World War II, Harry Truman assumed the presidency. The Democrats were divided between big-city progressives and southern conservatives.
He advocated for what today would be seen as far- left initiatives, such as expanding the welfare state and stepping up government intervention in the economy, despite the American electorate being more conservative.
The first election after World War II that the Democratic party lost seats to the Republicans in the House was in 1946, and it is worth remembering this year.
Even though the Republican party was having disagreements between right and moderate wings, it still happened. The old guard, led by Ohio Senator Robert Taft, was jockeying for influence against the internationalist wing.
In Georgia, Governor Eugene Talmadge won a fourth term despite a campaign to remove blacks from voting lists.
The partisan fighting continued. Truman left office in January of 1953 with a historically low approval rating due to a long Korean war, an economic downturn, and government corruption.
He is now considered one of America's greatest presidents because of his response to the Soviet challenge, including the Marshall Plan of 1948, the Berlin Air Lift of 1948-49, and NATO's creation in 1949. His political, diplomatic, military, and economic initiatives set the stage for an internationalist U.S. foreign policy.
President Biden should keep that in mind as he is told to "course correct" to avoid administration failure.
The administration official listed three errors that had to be addressed immediately: the poor management of the continued Covid-19 challenge, the failure to appreciate the politics that sunk his "Build Back Better" legislation, and the underestimation of inflationary risk.
It could be the easy part if President Biden could address all those domestic challenges. It was Truman who won his place in history because of his handling of international affairs. Biden has been right to see our period as an "inflection point" and the stakes are equally historic.
Biden caused an uproar this week when he suggested that allies would be divided over what to do about a small incursion into Ukraine.
The Washington Post editorial board was right to say that the president was telling the truth despite the fact that U.S. officials corrected his statement.
This column argued in January that Putin's actions are likely to be craftier and messier than expected, designed to divide NATO allies and the U.S. domestic politics on how best to respond.
The Secretary of State had a meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister on Friday and it appears that he bought some time for more talks. According to the analysis of the Atlantic Council's military fellows, it could provide more time to complete military preparations for an incursion.
The problem isn't the nature of Putin's next move but rather the troubling trajectory behind it, which has included Russia's invasion of Georgia during the George W. Bush presidency in 2008.
In addressing a country that was politically divided and against isolationist forces, Truman said, "World leadership in these perilous times calls for policies which, while springing from self-interest, transcend it, and serve as a bridge between our national objectives and the needs and desires of other free."
The President and CEO of the Atlantic Council is Frederick Kempe.
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