Biden, known more for his failures than successes

Lame-duck Joe Biden appeared to fade from a global leadership during the Brazil summit of the Group of 20 countries which was his last appearance as US president. He did not hold press briefings and confined his address to brief remarks instead of proclaiming his positive policies on the climate change front.

Biden, 82 last week, did not turn up for an early photoshoot with fellow leaders but took part later in the day. Observers said he seemed to be a spent man performing necessary tasks without enthusiasm. Biden is the oldest ever US president and the ninth oldest world leader. As his successor Donald Trump is 78, he will exit his second term at the same age as Biden.

Having defeated Trump in the 2020 election, Biden entered office in January 2021 with an approval rating of 53.3 per cent which soon peaked at 55 per cent. This declined to 46.3 at the end of August 2021 after his disastrous mismanagement of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. Biden gambled on Trump’s defective December 2000 deal with the Taliban which involved total US pullout with only an empty Taliban pledge to refuse Daesh a presence in Afghanistan.

Instead of insisting on a respectable agreement and postponing troop departure until this was agreed by the Taliban, Biden sought to end the disastrous US Afghan adventure before September 11th, 2021, the 20th anniversary of Afghanistan-based Al-Qaeda’s strikes on New York and Washington.

Once the US military had evacuated, the Taliban reimposed its cruel rule on Afghanistan. Biden’s ratings fell and never recovered as there was global television coverage of the chaos of those days as civilians, officials and soldiers scrambled to flee the Taliban. Biden’s current rating is 38.6 per cent. On leaving office, Donald Trump’s rating was 34 per cent, Barack Obama’s 59 per cent when he left office, and Bill Clinton’s was 66 per cent.

Biden’s accomplishments on the domestic front were considerable. He tackled the Covid pandemic which Trump had dismissed as insignificant flue despite millions of deaths from Covid under his watch. Biden put climate change at the top of his agenda and invested trillions of dollars into clean energy development with the aim of making renewable energy the second source of electricity in the US.

Biden founded the Office of Gun Violence Management and schools were given $286 million in federal funds to address student mental health problems, a cause of many school shootings. He gave priority to cancer research to reduce deaths from the disease. The Biden administration secured funds to upgrade and rebuild US roads, bridges, tunnels, broadband networks, and airports. Biden built on President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care act, lowered medicine prices for seniors on Medicare, and aided low-wage workers to get health insurance. Over his three and three-quarters years in the White House, Biden added millions of jobs and brought down inflation. But he did not loudly claim or get credit for his successes.

Unfortunately, his accomplishments did not drive up Biden’s ratings and in mid-summer this year he was compelled to resign the presidential race in favour of Vice President Kamala Harris who did not win, partly because she could not escape Biden’s low ratings and wrongheaded actions on the external scene.

On the foreign front, Biden remains an armchair warrior at the expense of Ukraine and Palestine. He has urged Ukraine to pursue admission to NATO. This has been a red line for Russia since 1989-91 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Russia agreed that East and West Germany could merge and the East could become absorbed by NATO. In exchange, the Western alliance pledged it would not move “one inch” eastwards by recruiting other former Soviet allies. Nevertheless, NATO admitted one former Soviet Eastern European country after another. In mid-2021, Russia warned NATO not to accept Ukraine, deployed troops along the border, and invaded in February 2022.

Since then, the US and Europe have poured weapons into Ukraine with the aim of driving Russian forces from Crimea — a former Russian territory which Moscow will never cede — and the eastern Donbas area. Since the war has continued for more than 1,000 days without victory for either side, Biden last week gave Ukraine permission to fire US long-range missiles deep into Russia. This risks massive retaliation by Moscow which has threatened to activate its nuclear arsenal to defend Mother Russia.

Moscow argues that use of these missiles amounts to a declaration of war by the US and NATO. Despite angry opposition from the 164 states which have banned anti-personnel mines and condemnation by international activists, Biden has also promised to provide these weapons to halt Russian troop advances.

Biden’s total backing for Israel’s wars on Gaza and Lebanon has led to International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and ex-Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. They are charged with using starvation as a weapon of war, murder, persecution, and other war crimes. Since Biden has armed and protected Israel over the past 13 months, critics argue he should be served with an arrest warrant as well.

Biden could have prevented Netanyahu from carrying out the war crimes with which he and Gallant are charged. Instead, Biden has refused to employ leverage to force Israel to cease fire, allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, and crack down on Israeli settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank. Under Biden, the US cast the sole veto on last week’s UN Security Council resolution calling for a Gaza ceasefire and release of Israeli hostages as Netanyahu is determined to carry on with the war. This was the fourth Council ceasefire resolution the US vetoed. Unhindered, Israel is wreaking havoc in Gaza, invading and bombing Lebanon and striking Syria and Iran, risking regional war.

Biden’s unhinged support for Israel has led to widespread anger against him and condemnation of Israel in the US and Europe. Instead of supporting or remaining silent on the ICC warrants, the Biden administration has condemned the move. Biden is certain to castigate the International Court of Justice if it rules Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people in response to the case lodged by South Africa.

By failing to rein in Netanyahu, Biden has not only colluded in war crimes but also has contributed to global anti-Israeli sentiment. This does not serve the interests of Israel. It is no longer seen as a valiant little country defending itself against inveterate enemies but as a vicious aggressor.