Why Joe Biden’s Russia-bashing is a tactical mistake

You might not think that Geoff Norcott, the self-proclaimed conservative comedian, has something to contribute to western relations with Russia, but you’d be wrong. And it’s a shame that President Biden doesn’t seem to have read Where Did I Go Right? (Norcott’s account of his estrangement from his leftist roots), because time and time again, he illuminates the way that progressives’ enthusiasm for demonising their opponents only entrenches them.

Take Remainers characterising Brexiteers as racist xenophobes or gullible victims of obvious lies or Hillary Clinton’s claim that half of Donald Trump’s supporters were ‘deplorables… racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic – you name it’? Neither example won many friends across the aisle.

It seems to apply especially to rhetoric about Russia. In public remarks at the National Counterterrorism Centre on Tuesday, Biden described the country as having ‘an economy that has nuclear weapons and oil wells and nothing else. Nothing else.’ In this, he was echoing his predecessor President Obama’s