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When the President of the United States delivered his first major foreign policy speech, Biden also froze former President Donald Trump’s plans to redistribute a large portion of US troops held in Germany and vowed to take a tough stance on the “growing authoritarian threat. from China and Russia “. . “
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who took office two weeks ago, went together to the State Department to demonstrate a renewed attention to diplomacy after four tumultuous years under Trump.
America is back. Diplomacy is back, “Biden told an audience of diplomats who followed the rules of social distance.
Speaking at the ornate Benjamin Franklin Hall shortly after, Biden announced that the United States would end all support for its ally in the Saudi war in Yemen with Iranian-backed Hussite insurgents, including the sale of advanced weapons.
The war, according to Biden, “caused a humanitarian and strategic catastrophe.”
The president appointed U.S. special envoy to Yemen, veteran diplomat Timothy Lenderking, to support United Nations efforts to achieve a ceasefire and reignite peace talks between the government and the Hussite rebels who control much of the country. country, including the capital, Sana’a.
The United States will work to “ensure that humanitarian aid reaches the people of Yemen who are suffering unbearable devastation,” Biden said.
“This war must end,” he said.
Activists have pushed for an end to US support for the war in Yemen, where 80 percent of the population depends on aid for the lingering humanitarian crisis, which the United Nations considers the largest in the world.
Trump offered the Riyadh-led coalition support for US logistics and a host of advanced weaponry, such as precision-aimed aviation bombs, claiming that Saudi Arabia is creating jobs in the US defense sector.
D. Trump also saw the war as a way to act against Hussus’s ally of Iran, which the previous US administration considered an irreconcilable enemy.
Biden supports a return to diplomacy and a deal with Iran on its nuclear program, but only indirectly mentioned Tehran in his speech on foreign policy priorities.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said he will soon reconsider Trump’s last-minute decision to declare the Spindles a terrorist organization that aid groups say vitally criminalizes vital humanitarian work.
In Yemen, senior politician Hamid Assem has expressed hope that Biden’s plan will mark the end of a six-year war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
“The Biden administration has seen that the war in Yemen is costly and that America’s reputation is being tarnished by the murder of the Yemeni people,” he told AFP.
“Moral leadership” over refugees
Announcing another major change, Biden said the United States would accept up to $ 125,000 in the first budget year of his administration. refugees. This is far more than the record low of 15,000 confirmed by D. Trump last time. Trump has been very harsh in his criticism of immigration from non-Western countries.
“America’s moral leadership on refugee issues has been a matter of consensus between the two sides for many decades since I came here,” said Biden, who was elected to the Senate in 1972.
“We are burning the light of freedom … for the oppressed. Our example has encouraged other countries to open their doors wide as well,” he said.
According to the president, among the groups of asylum seekers his administration will accept are LGBTQ people fleeing persecution because of their sexual orientation.
Biden has also stopped Trump’s plans to reduce the number of US troops stationed in Germany, which has been an important element of NATO security since the start of the Cold War.
Many speculated that Trump’s decision was dictated by his strained relations with Germany and the European Union over trade disputes, but there were fears such a move would weaken Western security as Russia strengthened.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin later said that he had instructed the Pentagon to review US “military positions” around the world.
“We will consult with our allies and partners on this review,” Austin said in a statement. “No one is successful in this area alone.”
In his speech, Biden also called for the resumption of alliance-building and America’s leadership on the world stage.
No “concessions” to Russia
Biden has vowed to uphold Trump’s tough stance on China and toughen up America’s stance on Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom the former president admired.
“I made it clear to President Putin, unlike my predecessor, that the time for US concessions to aggressive actions by Russia, interference in our elections, cyberattacks and the poisoning of its citizens is over,” he said. Putin.
White House officials said the conversation was tense.
“We will not hesitate to increase the bill for Russia and defend our vital interests and our people,” Biden told the State Department.
Shortly before Biden’s speech, the department announced that Blinken had spoken with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov by phone and, among other things, raised concerns about the poisoning and imprisonment of Kremlin critic Alexei Navaln, as well as the situation of the Americans imprisoned in Russia. .
Biden said the United States “must respond to this new moment of emerging authoritarianism, including China’s growing ambitions to compete with the United States and Russia’s determination to undermine and destroy our democracy.”
The president’s speech was Putin’s strongest condemnation after large-scale protests in Russia over Navaln’s imprisonment, during which thousands of people were arrested.
Biden sought to show the world that he was turning away from Putin after Trump’s tenure, when the Republican president avoided direct confrontation with the Russian leader and often sought to downplay his malicious actions.
The president of the United States once again called for the release of Navalna.
“Navaln, like all Russian citizens, has rights under the Russian constitution,” he said. – He was targeted … for exposing corruption. He should be immediately and unconditionally released. “
Last month, Navaln returned to Russia from Germany, where he was treated with Novičiok, a nerve-paralyzing substance developed by Soviet scientists after his poisoning in August. The opposition blamed Russian poisoning and Putin for the poisoning.
Navaln was arrested as soon as he flew to Moscow, and the move sparked mass demonstrations in many Russian cities, during which more than 10,000 people were detained by security forces. persons. The police have been accused of abuse of power and unnecessary violence for this repression of the protests.
Biden’s visit to the State Department at the beginning of his term is not accidental and shows his interest in foreign policy.
Trump waited more than a year before deciding to appear at the State Department to attend the swearing-in ceremony for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2018. The former president has repeatedly called the State Department a party to a “deep state” that he wants. overthrow his administration. D. Trumpas cursed and fired the department staff, unsuccessfully trying to cut their budget.
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