Adm. Mullen: "Time To Stop Talking Shit And Sit Down At The Table Like Sane Adults"

(Trigger warning for neocons) Fmr. Joint Chiefs chairman Adm. Mike Mullen says he's "a little concerned about the language" from Biden on nuclear war & says the US should "do everything we possibly can to try to get to the table" to negotiate with Russia. pic.twitter.com/3FFrXAufO2

— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) October 10, 2022

abcnewsgo  |   President Joe Biden’s warning last week that Vladimir Putin was "not joking" about possibly using nuclear weapons was "concerning" and counterproductive to bringing an end to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, retired Adm. Mike Mullen said Sunday.

Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, was asked in an interview on ABC's "This Week" to assess the nuclear risk from Russia after Putin said he would use "all available means" to protect what he called his country's territorial integrity.

“President Biden's language -- we're about at the top of the language scale, if you will. And I think we need to back off that a little bit and do everything we possibly can to try to get to the table to resolve this thing,” Mullen told "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz.

Mullen was referring to what Biden said on Thursday when he warned that for the "first time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have the direct threat of the use of a nuclear weapon if in fact things continue down the path that they are going."

“I don't think there's any such thing as the ability to easily [use] a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon," Biden said then.

The White House has since clarified that the president was not acting on new intelligence of looming danger but was trying to underline the stakes given the current conflict in Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces have recaptured ground in the country's contested eastern and southern regions and have pushed back Russian troops.

On "This Week," Raddatz pressed Mullen on his proposed resolution: “How do you see him [Putin] saving face if he doesn't come to the table? If Ukraine can't figure anything out?”

Diplomacy and international pressure on both Ukraine and Russia would ultimately be key, Mullen argued.

“It's got to end and usually there are negotiations associated with that,” he said. “The sooner the better, as far as I'm concerned.”