Biden will deliver his final foreign policy speech on Monday

President Biden began his final week in office Monday with a strong defense of his foreign policy, arguing in a speech that America has become stronger on his watch and that “the winds are on our backs.”

With just seven days left until President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office in the White House, Biden hopes to use his remaining time to frame his historic legacy as a transformational leader who strengthened the United States domestically and internationally in just four days. -For a period of one year.

The efforts began with a speech at the State Department that focused on what Biden sees as his successes on the international stage. He said he strengthened US alliances in Europe while confronting Russian aggression, as well as in the Asia-Pacific region amid the rise of China. At the same time, he said that America’s adversaries – especially Russia, China and Iran – were weaker than they were when he took office.

“Right now, in my view, thanks to our administration, the United States is winning the global competition,” Biden said. “Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, and our opponents and competitors are weaker. We did not go to war to achieve these things.”

Mr. Biden was hosted in the department’s eighth-floor ballroom by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, his longtime adviser, and received a standing ovation by political appointees and lawmakers. Foreign policy has long been a passion of Biden’s, and he wanted to devote an entire speech to it before leaving office.

He said he improved America’s position in the world by making it stronger at home, and strengthening “sources of national strength” by expanding the economy, investing in the semiconductor industry and rebuilding roads, bridges, airports, clean water networks and other public facilities. He works.

He bragged about eliminating the leader of Al Qaeda, even though he withdrew American forces from Afghanistan; End the war there; impose new restrictions on China while mobilizing its neighbors; And work to combat climate change. While the wars in Ukraine and Gaza are still raging, he has claimed credit for helping Ukraine and Israel defend themselves against various types of threats even as he talked about trying to bring peace to the Middle East.

Pointing to a number of these challenges, Biden said: “Make no mistake, there are serious challenges that the United States must continue to grapple with.” “But despite this, it is clear that my administration will leave the next administration with a very strong hand to play. We are leaving them with an America with more friends and stronger alliances, and its opponents weaker and under pressure, an America that leads again.”

Mr. Biden never mentioned Mr. Trump by name or addressed how radically different his successor’s worldview would be or what might happen in the next four years. But there were some pointy lines.

He said that dealing with China side by side with partners is “more effective than dealing with it alone,” in a clear reference to Mr. Trump’s “America First” approach. Mr. Biden also said the world must “make sure Putin’s war ends with a just and lasting peace for Ukraine,” a reference to Mr. Trump’s desire to broker a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He also implicitly compared his influence among European allies with that of Mr. Trump, who has bullied NATO partners into increasing their military spending. Biden said that while only nine NATO members were meeting the goal of spending 2% of their economies on their militaries when Trump left office, 23 countries are now meeting that goal.

The speech was the first this week aimed at making the best case for Mr. Biden’s presidential legacy. He will deliver a broader televised farewell address to the nation in prime time on Wednesday evening, as other presidents have done. He will also make at least three more speeches this week: on his environmental record, at a farewell event for the commander-in-chief, and before the country’s mayors.

On foreign policy, Biden has presided over a turbulent period, and Trump has blamed him for the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, despite no US troops being directly involved on the ground in either place. Some critics said the perception of a world on fire and out of Biden’s control contributed to the erosion of his political popularity at home and his eventual withdrawal from the presidential race under pressure.

“The fact that Biden is returning the presidency to his predecessor is in part a reflection of his foreign policy shortcomings,” said Peter Rove, director of the Center for Europe and Eurasia at the Hudson Institute and a former aide to President George W. Bush. . shrub.

“For most of his time in office,” Mr. Ruff continued, “Biden has been on the defensive, first in Ukraine and then in Gaza.” The president’s 1990s-era liberal internationalism may have been well-intentioned, but it always felt out of place with the power politics of the 1920s.

still, A Gallup poll was conducted on Monday It showed that America’s standing in Europe has improved strikingly under Biden. Of the 30 NATO allies surveyed, approval of American leadership has risen among all but four since 2020, Mr. Trump’s final year in office. Approval rates rose by double digits in 20 of the 30 countries. In Germany, for example, approval of American leadership rose to 52% under Biden compared to just 6% under Trump.

By most assessments, Biden revitalized NATO after relations with Washington deteriorated under Trump, who came close to withdrawing the United States from the alliance and regularly harassed European partners. Biden welcomed two new members, Sweden and Finland, and led the delivery of tens of billions of dollars in arms and other aid to Ukraine.

In his speech on Monday, Biden mocked Putin and bragged that Moscow had failed to achieve the strategic goals of its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 to seize control of its neighbor and drive a wedge between the United States and its allies. .

“When Putin invaded Ukraine, he thought he would occupy Kiev within days,” Biden said. “The truth is, since that war started, I am the only one who has stood in the middle of Kiev – not him. Putin never did that.”

Biden has been criticized over Ukraine from two different directions: Some said he was too reluctant to deliver more powerful weapons to Ukraine for fear of escalation with a nuclear superpower, while others said he invested too much American money in someone else’s war.

Biden claimed that he had succeeded in overturning the competition with China, by establishing new partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region, and by strengthening old partnerships while strengthening the American economy to enable it to compete better.

He pointed out that experts one day expected that the Chinese economy would surpass the American economy. “Now, according to the latest forecasts, on China’s current path, they will never overtake us,” he said. “a period.”

The president showed no remorse in his speech, not even for the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. By extricating America from the longest war in its history, Biden finally achieved what his two predecessors wanted but could not. But the chaotic nature of the withdrawal caused great damage to his and his country’s standing in the world.

Mr. Biden said he was sad about that 13 American soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing While withdrawing but not confessed The Afghan allies left behind Or that the withdrawal opened a vacuum for the Taliban to take power in the country again. He added: “Ending the war was the right thing to do, and I believe history will reflect that.”

The war in Gaza that followed Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, was the other dominant crisis of Biden’s term. He staunchly sided with Israel and provided weapons for its all-out assault on Hamas, but ultimately grew frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who rejected American pressure to do more to limit civilian casualties and alleviate human suffering.

As with Ukraine, Biden has faced criticism from opposite directions. Some accused him of not doing more to stop the killing of civilians, and called him a “genocidal atmosphere” during the protests. Conversely, others criticized him for putting any pressure at all on Israel to show restraint in the face of a profound terrorist threat.

Biden said the past year had destroyed Israel’s enemy, Iran, which sponsored not only Hamas but also Hezbollah, as well as the Houthis and other regional militias. He also received credit for twice deploying US forces to successfully defend Israel from Iranian missile attacks. Biden said: “Iran is weaker than it has been in decades.”

However, some critics argue that Iran has become weaker not because of Mr. Biden but because Israel ignored Mr. Biden’s advice to retreat, instead destroying Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran’s air defense systems.

But even now, in his final days in office, Biden is scrambling to reach an elusive ceasefire that would end the fighting and lead to the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, including a few with American citizenship.

Biden spoke with Mr. Netanyahu on Sunday and with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, who is among the mediators in the ceasefire negotiations, on Monday. He also planned to call Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. “We are pushing hard to get this closed,” he said.

Mr. Biden did not offer any advice to Mr. Trump about how to resolve conflicts in the Middle East or other issues around the world. The only advice he offered explicitly was to urge the “next administration” to focus on artificial intelligence and the transition to clean energy.

He noted that some around Mr. Trump deny climate change. “I think they come from a different century,” he said. “They are wrong. They are completely wrong. It is the greatest existential threat to humanity.”