The phrase “regime change” is generally understood to mean a basic altering of a country’s governmental structure. We tried (but failed) to achieve regime change in Vietnam, we tried (with limited success) to achieve it in Iraq, and Russia is trying to achieve it now in Ukraine.

But there is another, more limited, meaning to the term, namely an effort to replace the specific leadership of a government without altering the overall structure of that government itself. We might call this “regime change light.”

President Biden forcefully opined that Vladimir Putin should be removed from his position as head of the Russian government. When he received some blowback for that comment, the White House announced that he was not calling for “regime change,” as that term is generally used. He was not advocating a restructuring of the Russian government.

He was suggesting a case of “regime change light.”

In my opinion, Biden is absolutely right.

Putin must go!

Our government, with support from the other NATO countries, should tighten the screws of the financial sanctions on Putin and the other oligarchs, flood the Russian population with the truth about their leaders (a return of Radio Free Europe), and inflict cyber warfare on the Russian government and military.

I believe we should give the Russian people every support imaginable to help them depose this despot from his position.

RICHARD LONDON

State College

Submitted by Virtual Newsroom