Signs of change? United States Treasury Secretary considers Putin a 'war criminal'

The current US administration's position on Russia appears to have begun to change, as we've seen this week.

The Third Rome? Russia displays its alliance with dictatorships that persecute Christians
The USA votes with Russia at the UN against a text because it rejects the invasion of Ukraine

Less than a month ago, The United States voted alongside Russia at the UN against a text because it rejected the invasion of Ukraine. It was yet another example of the Trump administration's embarrassing rapprochement with the Kremlin, perhaps in an attempt to break up the Russia-China alliance that has failed miserably, as the entire world saw yesterday with the images of the meeting between Putin and Xi Jinping in Moscow and the parade of Chinese soldiers in the Russian capital's Red Square on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.

The White House seems to have already realized this failure. We saw it the other day with the signing of a minerals agreement between the US and Ukraine under very different conditions than those Trump initially intended and which ended up being a diplomatic success for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. But there has been another clear sign of this change, a sign that will have sat very badly in the Kremlin.

On Wednesday, May 7, the US Congress held a hearing with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (his position is equivalent to that of finance ministers in other countries). Bessent is a member of the Republican Party, a staunch supporter of Trump, who took office on January 28. During that hearing, Democratic Congressman Juan Vargas asked him: "Do you consider Vladimir Putin a war criminal?" Bessent didn't hesitate: "Yes." You can see the scene in this video (at 1:38:43, I've embedded it so it starts playing there):

Vargas then asked Bessent if he would negotiate with a war criminal, and the Treasury Secretary compared the Russians to the Japanese in World War II, stating that it was necessary to negotiate with them after that war.

The comparison does not seem inappropriate to me, since during that war, the Japanese Empire committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and even crimes of genocide, such as the Nanking massacre (1937-1938, up to 300,000 dead), the Changjiao massacre (1943, with 30,000 dead and numerous women raped) and the Manila massacre (1945, with more than 100,000 dead).

On the other hand, that negotiation with Japan did not prevent Japan's unconditional surrender. The alternative would have been "prompt and utter destruction", according to the Potsdam Declaration of July 26, 1945, signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of China. I look forward to seeing the US send a similar message to Russia regarding Ukraine, promising all possible aid to the invaded country if the Russians refuse to withdraw their troops. That's the only language thugs like Putin understand: the language of force.

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Photo: Bloomber.