Opinion | Biden Leaves His Successor a World of Disorder
By: Opinion by The Editorial Board
Well known and denied by the left
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Biden will address the United Nations on Tuesday, in what is likely to be his last big moment on the world stage. A President’s foreign-policy legacy typically outlasts his term, so it’s worth taking a step back and considering the world Mr. Biden will leave his successor.
It is a far more dangerous world than Mr. Biden inherited, and far less congenial for U.S. interests, human freedom and democracy. The latter is tragically ironic since the President has made the global contest between democracy and authoritarians an abiding theme. Authoritarians have advanced on his watch in every part of the world—Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, and even the Americas.
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• Mr. Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan was his single most damaging decision, and it has led to cascading trouble. The Taliban control the country and are reimposing feudal Islamist rule. His withdrawal has done more harm to more women than anything in decades, while jihadists have revived their terror sanctuary.
• More damaging is the message his withdrawal sent to adversaries about American will and retreat. The credibility of U.S. deterrence collapsed. Mr. Biden tried to appease Vladimir Putin by blessing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and refusing to arm Ukraine. Mr. Putin concluded he could invade Ukraine at limited cost, especially after Mr. Biden blurted out that a “minor incursion” might not elicit the same Western opposition.
After Kyiv bravely resisted, Mr. Biden sent weapons, but too little and too delayed at every stage of the war. Even now, after 31 months and 100,000 or more dead, Mr. Biden dithers over letting Ukraine use long-range ATACMS against targets inside Russia.
• His record in the Middle East is worse. Rather than build on the Abraham Accords he inherited, he tried to ostracize Saudi Arabia and he banned offensive weapons to fight the Houthis. From the start he courted the mullahs in Iran to renew the 2015 nuclear accord that had enriched Iran before Donald Trump withdrew. He refused to enforce oil sanctions, even as Iran spread mayhem through its proxy militias.
The U.S. was caught flat-footed when Hamas, aided by Iran, invaded Israel and massacred 1,200 innocents. His national-security adviser, Jake Sullivan, had to edit an online version of a Foreign Affairs essay already published boasting that “the region is quieter than it has been for decades.”
Here’s how quiet: Our foremost regional ally is now at war on multiple fronts. Israel’s defensive campaign in Gaza isn’t finished and a new and perhaps bloodier fight is unfolding with Hezbollah. The Houthis have all but shut down Western commercial shipping around the Red Sea, while Mr. Biden makes U.S. naval commanders play whack-a-missile.
Meanwhile, Iran marches undeterred to becoming a nuclear power. The Biden Administration mouths pieties that this is unacceptable, but its every action suggests it believes a nuclear Iran is inevitable and trying to stop it is too risky. When Iran goes nuclear, the security calculus in the world will turn upside down.
• Mr. Biden’s record in the Asia-Pacific is marginally better, at least diplomatically. He has strengthened U.S. alliances against China, especially with Australia, Japan and the Philippines. The Aukus defense deal is important, as is Japan’s move toward closer military integration with the U.S.
Yet diplomacy hasn’t been matched by hard power. The U.S. isn’t building enough submarines to meet its Aukus commitment and U.S. needs. American bases lack adequate air defenses and long-range missiles to defeat a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. State Department foot-stomping hasn’t stopped Chinese harassment of Philippine ships.
• Closer to home, Venezuela’s dictator has predictably stolen another election, exposing the Biden Administration’s deal to ease oil sanctions as naive. Mexico is tilting in an authoritarian direction without U.S. protest. Cuba continues to spread revolution wherever it can. The resulting human suffering reaches America in the flood of migrants that now burden our cities, from Manhattan to Springfield, Ohio.
• Most ominous is the collaboration of these menacing regional powers into a new anti-Western axis. Iran supplies missiles and drones to Moscow, which may be supplying nuclear know-how to Tehran. China is aiding Moscow, which now joins Beijing in naval maneuvers. North Korea also arms Moscow while being protected by China from United Nations sanctions it once voted for.
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All of this and more adds up to the worst decline in world order, and the largest decline in U.S. influence, since the 1930s. Yet Mr. Biden continues to speak and act as if he’s presided over an era of spreading peace and prosperity. He has proposed a cut in real defense spending each year of his Presidency, which may be his greatest abdication.
Addressing this gathering storm will be difficult and dangerous. The first task will be restoring U.S. deterrence, which will require more hard power and political will. Whoever wins the White House will have to abandon the failed policies of the Biden years, lest we end up careening into a global conflict with catastrophic consequences.
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Sums up his "legacy" as PotUS
So we are suppose to trust Kamala after she lied about Bidens competence?
She does have a nice smile.
Some are voting for her because they like her!
She does have a lot of firsts, First African American female to be elected DA of San Francisco, First African American female to be elected AG of California, And the First African American female named the democrat party candidate for president after receiving zero votes in the primary.
Well, there has to be some 18-year-old out there saying "wouldn't it be nice to have our first African American female president." Living at home of course!
If the Ds are okay with how the party handled Biden's withdrawal from the race why are Rs so bent out of shape?
In November, the electorate will be able to vote for Harris or Trump for PotUS. It sure seems as though those voting for Harris is a superset of those who would have voted for Biden so your complaint seems irrelevant. If they are okay with the results, why do you care?
Because they are likely to lose.
Or, more accurately, because now they could lose. And that further indicates that some look at this as a team sport instead of picking the person best suited to be the PotUS (out of the viable candidates). I suspect that many of the remaining Trump supporters are simply supporting the nominee of their team (the GOP) regardless of the nominee. What surprises me is that this team support is so strong, not even a scoundrel like Trump is enough to dissuade team loyalty.
Trump has plagued our politics for 13 years now, beginning in 2011 with his birtherism. Trump became a birther because he wanted to run for President in 2012 and didnt have a base. His base would become conservative racists and conspiracy theorists. That was the plan, although it collapsed when Obama released his long form birth certificate. Now 13 years later the motives of Trump supporters have broadened out somewhat to where they are self-sustaining. There are people who support Trump today because they have for years and dont know any other reality.
She opened her mouth - she lied.
Is the choice for president a function of lies now? If so, Trump should not get a single vote.
I suggest the choice should be based first on fitness to hold the office. Character, ethics, presidential demeanor, good intentions for the people, etc. should then be applied and, in this case, Trump should again not get a single vote.
Blaming Biden for the actions of world leaders is a cheap shot.
Should we blame Bush for 9/11? Blame Reagan for the Iran-Iraq war? ... FDR for WWII? ... Trump for China infecting the planet with COVID-19?
Beyond disingenuous. Even Netanyahu thought Gaza was "quiet" prior to Oct 7th, which is why he withdrew Israeli security forces from the Gaza border and brought them back to make illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank feel safer. Biden has no more responsibility for Oct 7th than Santa Claus has. Now Netanyahu wants a new war with Lebanon, so he can stay in power forever and avoid prison on corruption charges. Guess who the corrupt Netanyahu wants back in office in the US ?
I had no idea that the editorial board of the WSJ was worse than the New York Times editorial board.
Trump drew up DOHA. Trump took credit for ending the Afghanistan mess by negotiating with the Taliban not Afghanistan.
Likewise the Abraham Accord left out the Palestinians from their own solution seeking.
We aren't responsible for Israel. period.
What does the WSJ want us to do, be the world's policeman again?
Trump won't do that, he just wants to cut deals.
SMH
Major land war in europe, the middle east in flames and China provoking everyone in asia.
Obama was right about Biden at least.
Trump, Ukraine and Putin
4 things to remember about Trump, Ukraine and Putin | CNN Politics
The Russian invasion of Ukraine didn’t just happen out of nowhere.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ratcheted up tensions with the West for the better part of the last decade – he annexed Crimea, meddled in US elections, poisoned an ex-spy on British soil, and more. Nearly every step of the way, former President Donald Trump parroted Kremlin talking points, excused Russian aggression and sometimes even embraced it outright.
It’s easy to forget that a few years ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wasn’t known for his steely wartime leadership , but for getting dragged by Trump into the US political scandal that led to Trump’s first impeachment.
Experts say Trump’s actions weakened Ukraine, divided NATO, emboldened Putin and helped get us to where we are today. And even with Trump no longer in office, his impact lives on in the form of Putin-friendly commentary in conservative media and from some Republican lawmakers .
“One of the key reasons Putin probably felt comfortable launching the invasion of Ukraine was the extent to which the West has been weakened and destabilized, and democracy undermined, and political divisions sown, in the five years since he attacked our election in 2016,” said Garrett Graff, a historian and journalist with expertise in national security and Cold War issues.
Here are four things to remember about Trump, Ukraine and Putin.
Trump took Russia’s side when the conflict began
A popular revolution in 2014 ousted the pro-Russia regime in Kyiv, which was led by President Viktor Yanukovych, and replaced it with a Western-leaning government. Russian troops soon invaded the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, initiating the armed conflict that escalated this year.
Within weeks, Trump praised Putin for how he handled the takeover of Crimea and predicted that “the rest of Ukraine will fall … fairly quickly.” Echoing Kremlin propaganda, Trump said in a TV interview that the Crimean people “would rather be with Russia,” a position he also pushed in private. One of his 2016 campaign aides falsely claimed that “Russia did not seize Crimea.”
“Trump said that Crimea is Russian, because people speak Russian,” said Elena Petukhova of Molfar, a Kyiv-based business intelligence firm, who called it an “absolutely pro-Kremlin” view. “According to this logic, the entire territory of the United States should belong to Great Britain.”
When Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine shot down a commercial airliner in 2014, killing 298 people, Trump sowed doubt about Russia’s involvement. He embraced Putin’s denials, even after US and European officials publicly concluded that Russia was complicit.
Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort – who had spent a decade advising Yanukovych in Ukraine – collaborated in 2016 with a Russian spy on a secret plan for Trump to help Russia control eastern Ukraine, according to special counsel Robert Mueller’s report . The proposal envisioned that Yanukovych would return to lead a Russian puppet state in eastern Ukraine.
This pro-Russian rhetoric didn’t always translate into policy for the Trump White House. For instance, his administration said sanctions would continue until Russia returned Crimea. But the rhetoric gave Putin an unexpected cheerleader in DC and created tensions within NATO.
Trump’s mixed record on arming Ukraine
President Joe Biden has dramatically increased the flow of arms to Ukraine, including anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft systems, drones, rifles and other weapons. Importantly, it was Trump who first sent lethal aid , in a major reversal from the Obama administration, which refused to send offensive weapons to Ukraine during the early stages of fighting in the eastern Donbas region.
But Trump has a checkered past on this topic. As a candidate, his position was unclear at best. Trump campaign aides intervened during the 2016 Republican National Convention to block language from the GOP party platform that called on the US to send lethal arms to Ukraine.
And in 2019, Trump infamously withheld nearly $400 million in military aid as part of his attempt to pressure Zelensky into announcing sham corruption investigations into Biden and his family’s business dealings. The weapons in the stalled aid package included the Javelin missiles that have emerged as a crucial part of Ukraine’s surprisingly robust defenses against Russian tanks.
This led to Trump’s first impeachment , but he was acquitted by the GOP-run Senate. Some of the Republicans who opposed his impeachment are now urging Biden to send more weapons.
“The GOP is the party of the Russia hawks. For a half-century, one of their central organizing principles was opposing the Soviet threat,” Graff said, adding that Trump upended that history and made some Republicans go soft on Putin. “But in this last month, a lot of Republicans who became wishy-washy on Russia have come back to their natural position as Russia hawks.”
Trump led an anti-Ukraine smear campaign
Throughout his presidency, Trump pushed a litany of false claims about Ukraine – in public and private. He rarely missed an opportunity to criticize the country. A widely respected diplomat testified to Congress that Trump believed “Ukraine was a corrupt country, full of terrible people.”
Trump’s biggest lie was about the 2016 election. He rejected the reality that Russia interfered to help him win. Instead, he falsely claimed it was Ukraine who meddled, and that he was the victim. These lies, which he repeated dozens of times , were a double boon to the Kremlin: they downplayed Russia’s brazen attack on US democracy, while simultaneously smearing Ukraine.
These views quickly became the party line for GOP lawmakers and conservative pundits, even though top Russia experts like Fiona Hill publicly warned that it was all Russian propaganda .
This was a break from decades of warm US policy toward Ukraine, especially when dealing with leaders like Zelensky who tried to reorient the country toward the West. Former President George W. Bush praised the Ukrainian people in 2004 for protesting a rigged election, and Obama celebrated the 2014 revolution that ousted a Kremlin-friendly government in Kyiv.
“When Trump muddies the water by praising Putin, or undermines Zelensky and spreads falsehoods about Ukraine, this has real implications for how this crisis plays out,” said Jordan Gans-Morse, a Northwestern University professor who was a Fulbright Scholar in Ukraine. “It shapes public opinion in ways that tie Biden’s hands when he’s a de facto wartime president.”
Trump repeatedly undermined Zelensky
GQ magazine recently wrote about Zelensky’s “endless heroism” and Time magazine said he “united the world.” But the mythos of Zelensky as a Churchill-like figure is a new development.
Less than three years ago, Zelensky was a fledgling politician that Trump and his cronies took advantage of as part of a ham-handed attempt to smear candidate Biden. The US-Ukraine relationship was put on the backburner and replaced with Trump’s personal and political needs.
Zelensky’s top priorities were to get more shipments of American weapons and to meet Trump at the White House. Veteran US diplomats in Kyiv shared this goal. But they were smeared and sidelined – and replaced by a band of Trump loyalists who made his demands clear : Zelensky could only get these things if he announced that Ukraine was investigating Biden for corruption.
This strong-arming by Team Trump forced Zelensky, in his first months in office, to navigate a surprisingly hostile relationship with the US, a supposed top ally in his fight against Russia.
“Zelensky had more than enough on his plate when he came to power,” Gans-Morse said. “The country was already at war with Russia. He’s a political novice. And then, on top of that, the most powerful person in the world essentially extorted him, and he had to devote time and energy to deal with that. It’s unclear what the full impact was, but it definitely tested Zelensky.”