Of course, regime change IS U.S. policy.

REGIME CHANGE IN RUSSIA HAS BEEN U.S. POLICY SINCE 2011 

EXCEPT FROM 2016-2020

Much is being made of Joe Biden's comment that Putin must not be allowed to be in power in Russia. He is only stating what has been U.S. policy for the last 20 years, except during the Trump years. Sanctions have always been a tool to create chaos and dissent in a country and hope that the citizens will overthrow the existing government. This has been the overriding foreign policy of the United States in the Obama years and now again in the Biden administration. It is all the same people in both administrations who are the architects of this policy.

Once the dissent turns into outright revolution, then they use social media to fan the flames and then supply arms and even surrogate fighters to further the goal of regime change. This is a policy that we witnessed in Ukraine in 2014, also in Egypt, Syria and Tunisia. The U.S. also meddled in the Russian elections of 2011 and later in the elections in Israel under the Obama administration. It is very likely they they also attempted these policies in Georgia,  Chechnya and Kazakhstan. Today most everyone is aware of these policies except the citizens of the United States.

The Bush administration just used the fear of weapons of mass destruction as an excuse to overthrow the government of Iraq, by using raw military power. Since then it seems a more subtle approach works without the use of military power. 

Many of our allies were alarmed at Biden's statement, because most would like to see a negotiated resolution to the Ukraine crisis. It is very likely that the U.S. state department would rather have a long drawn out conflict that weakens Russia and places Putin in a position that there is actually a revolution in Russia to remove him from power. While media cooperates in fanning the flames of dissent in Russia and stokes the emotions in favor of war with Russia, it is a very dangerous gamble.

It has always been a weakness of political people when they have the mindset that their opposition thinks in the same fashion as themselves. They must be able to put themselves in the position of their opposition to be able to understand their point of view. When they cannot do this, errors of policy can lead to disaster.

So far, Russia has not retaliated against the west. While some may assume that they have no ability to do so, it is false idea. The change in attitude of Russia since the Ukraine revolution in 2014 is when they fully understood that there is no place in the present economic and political system for Russia without it being subservient to the United States economic, social and political demands. The result is really an existential conflict between the United States and Russia.

Ukraine is just another battle field with surrogate fighters to further the hope of regime change in Russia. While the political thinkers in Washington are sure that no one would ever use nuclear weapons, even when they feel their existence is threatened, is a false way of thinking. There are numerous nations that would do so, Russia, Israel,China and Iran are just a few and possibly even the USA.

This conflict could have been avoided, by just some humility and empathy for the concerns of others, but it was an arrogant elitist attitude that had the opinion that we had the power and others will submit to our demands. Time may be running out, as soon the opposition may decide that there is no solution unless complete submission is given. If that decision is made it will not be an escalation, but an all out battle for survival.