TIME magazine last June published a cover and article flattering President Joe Biden ahead of a meetup with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Now, however, with Russia deciding to invade Ukraine on Biden’s watch, TIME has gone into hiding, Fox News reports. 

TIME’s June 2021 cover

The image of Biden that TIME put on the cover was so flattering that the magazine was widely mocked for it at the time.

It shows Biden with his aviator sunglasses on showing his teeth. And, in the reflection of the sunglasses is Putin.

The image made Biden look like some kind of action movie hero ready to take on the world’s evils. The headline of the issue was “Taking on Putin.”

TIME didn’t stop there

The magazine included in that June 2021 issue an article on Biden that, if possible, was even more flattering than the cover. It was called, “How Biden Plans to Get Tough On Vladimir Putin in Their Geneva Summit.”

The article’s author, Brian Bennett, wrote:

Biden is preparing to get tough when he sits down in Geneva with Putin for the first time as President. Among the moves he and his team have weighed to show he means business: reminding Putin that the U.S. has its own cyberabilities and can target Putin’s personal overseas fortunes. Biden hopes to amplify both threats by speaking for U.S. allies as well, and to back Putin down from these provocations. Biden’s mission in Geneva is not about a personal test of wills. It’s about halting this risky escalation and getting the U.S. and Russia back on stable footing, Administration officials say.

Bennett added: “Biden is qualified to lead the approach. He’s spent decades in debates on U.S.-Russian relations as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as VP.”

Fast forward to February 2022

TIME and Bennett couldn’t have been any more wrong about Biden’s ability to “back Putin down.”

Putin, under Biden’s watch, has now launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Reports indicate that Putin is bombing schools and hospitals, and there are talks of the possibility of war crimes and even genocide.

We’re now several days into the invasions, and Biden has been unable to slow Putin down. If anything, he made the invasion possible and has allowed it to continue by refusing to take meaningful actions against Putin, such as targeting Russia’s energy sector with sanctions. Some, including former President Donald Trump, are warning that this could be the start of another world war – and, again, it’s on Biden’s watch.

Yet, where is TIME as all this is happening? Fox reports, “TIME did not respond to multiple requests for comment.”