White House, Kremlin Trade Bitter Barbs as Mudslinging Enters Surreal Territory

Dialogue between certain nations is starting to sound a lot like a Cold War version of ‘Mean Girls’ — no subtitles required.

Russian Presidential Press Service via AP
President Putin at Moscow, June 26, 2023. Russian Presidential Press Service via AP

Just when it looked like the level of dialogue between Washington and Moscow couldn’t sink any lower, there goes President Biden calling the Slavic Darth Vader, President Putin, a “crazy SOB” — and the Kremlin serving up sassy ripostes. It is a development at once alarming and surreal, because February’s reality belies the conceit that only the leaders’ slightly dented egos are at stake. 

During a fundraiser on the Coast, Mr. Biden said, “We have a crazy SOB like Putin and others, and we always have to worry about nuclear conflict, but the existential threat to humanity is climate.” Beyond the president reckoning the human race is at risk of expiration due to the weather, the more unsettling forecast is that invective between Washington and Moscow is now likely to grow. 

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