Among the many crises created by Donald Trump’s presidency, there is one that has largely been ignored by the 2020 election. Crisis of global confidence in American leadership: The same thing happens if Biden spends his entire career preparing.
The former vice president spent years in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Obama spent eight years in the White House in a detailed summary of foreign affairs, including the American withdrawal from Iraq. Today, he is running for president in 1988, with the strongest foreign policy credentials of any candidate since George HW Bush.
But at a time when respect for American leadership has largely eroded around the world, Biden’s worldview, and possibly foreign policy, which is influenced by White House authorities and resentment, has been considered later in the election.
Biden’s team has no illusions about the scale of the diplomatic challenge. According to a recent poll, European confidence in Trump’s leadership is between 0 and 0 points, which was at the same level as Obama’s presidency. Even in Russia, confidence in Trump is 16 points lower than it was for Obama at the end of his first term.
How can Biden heal the damage? John Kerry, a former secretary of state and longtime Biden confidant, believes the former vice president’s long-standing relationship with allies will help.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” he told The Guardian. “I know there are concerns among friends and colleagues that the United States could violate treaties and norms if we were to just go from one election to another. But I think the very presence of B Dunn Biden is reassuring. I will not speak for the Vice President and his team, but it is clear to anyone who has known him and worked with him and watched him for many years how much he values our European alliances. He traveled for decades on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to get to know and listen to and get to know the dozens of young MPs who became prime minister and foreign minister.
“I think his unique credibility and his years of European relations will help re-establish those ties one day at Biden’s presidency. I know he’s respectful, and he got that relationship. In 2008, when Russian tanks moved into a neighboring country called Georgia, it was B Biden who immediately picked up the phone, and called an old friend who had become the country’s president. So he flew on a plane, flew all night, and sat on the mountain of Georgia with the president of our democratic ally and made it clear that the United States stands with allies. People remember those moments. ”
In a speech in New York in 2019, Biden spoke of returning Obama-era agreements that Trump has vowed to destroy: in particular the international agreement to halt Iran’s nuclear program, and the Paris weather agreement. Biden has promised to host its own climate summit in its first 100 days, setting higher goals for the world’s largest carbon-polluting countries.
“Just think about the positive signals that the administration can send immediately on climate change,” Kerry said. “Obviously, he has said he will rejoin the Paris climate agreement soon, but I think he will also send a signal to the next COP in Glasgow, Scotland. [climate change conference] That the world must pursue its ambitions. Paris itself was a goal that is not guaranteed. “
‘He saw his son arranged on the battlefield’
Biden was never fully involved in Obama’s foreign policy. He turned to the White House with his boss, especially on the decision to send more American troops to Afghanistan. In the Senate, where Obama was a new member of the Foreign Relations Committee, Biden was particularly distant.
For years, Biden had found it difficult to participate in the use of American force. In 1990, he voted against the Gulf because it did not advance American national interests. But after failing to pass the option he chose to prioritize diplomacy, 12 years later, he voted to invade Iraq. Between those two votes, Biden became a liberal falcon in the Senate, pushing hard for military action against Serbia for ethnic cleansing wars in Bosnia and Kosovo.
So where does Biden stand today?
“We have to retire the falcon-dove frame. It’s hostile, “Kerry said. “What was B Biden on the Balkans? He was a man in the Senate who urged his colleagues and the Democratic administration to move forward with urgency to stop the genocide. What would you call it? The only thread that runs through all of these areas is Joe Biden wrestling with facts and values and he gridged people who agree with him and disagree with him and pressure-test everyone’s assumptions.
“He is a man who saw his son on the battlefield. He knows what it’s like to live with anxiety. Therefore, it is healthily impatient towards countries that benefit from the sacrifices of our country’s soldiers but allows politicians to squander those sacrifices. You tell me: is it a hawk or a dove? ”
If Biden promises to return to the familiar lines of American foreign policy, he will do so in a world that has changed significantly over the past four years. Trump’s presidency has encouraged dictatorial rulers and undermined democratic scrutiny and balance around the world.
Biden says he will hold a summit for democracy in his first year in office, “strengthening democratic institutions” and “defending against dictatorship.” The Democratic nominee has made it clear that he will confront Russia, where Trump is making every effort to do the opposite. But Biden is less vocal in making it clear that his approach will end business as usual with Saudi Arabia, as well as continuing tensions with China.
“He should never praise dictators. But guess what? He knows how to work with people to manage differences and still do things in an area where you have to cooperate fully, ”Kerry said. “Think about China. The world’s two largest economies have to co-operate on climate change, over time. You can do at the same time that a mature president faces serious problems in that relationship. ”
In practice, Biden’s version of American foreign policy can only succeed with a high foreign aid budget to stem the tide of democracies and counter regimes seeking to accelerate that decline.
In Biden’s work in the so-called Northern Triangle of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, the U.S. is committed to stopping a new wave of migration by strengthening good governance, the rule of law and food security.
Those programs were cut by the Trump administration, which spent b 11bn on the partial wall of the Mexican border.
“They have to fight the underlying problems that are driving large numbers of migrants and caravans, but their leadership needs to move faster,” Kerry said. “It’s not easy to fix countries where half the population lives in poverty. But they can all move quickly to strengthen the rule of law, fight corruption and improve their judicial system.
“Guess what? It will never improve without a high level of trust and respect. In this grand deal, there is the role of the United States. The largest house on the block will have to help draw the clock around. ”
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