Secretary of State Antony Blinken talks about America’s role in the world

There’s no easy walk to the Antony Blinken exit. With exactly eight days left in his tenure as Secretary of State, he has just completed what is likely his final round-the-world trip, with meetings in Seoul, Tokyo, Paris and, finally, Rome.

Blinken has traveled more than a million miles on the job. “Every minute, every hour and every day of the time we have left, we are focused on achieving results,” he said.

The Sunday Morning program flew with him in early December – three flights ago – from Washington to Brussels for the final meeting of NATO foreign ministers. The main topic of discussion was Russian aggression in Ukraine.

“We have a new strategic concept for NATO,” Blinken said. “It recognizes Russia as the most direct threat to the alliance.”

But there were a lot of good wishes too. Blinken stood in the middle of the so-called “family photo” and also took photos of all the female foreign ministers.

“You have been a strong ally, and people love you very much,” Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, NATO secretary-general, told Blinken.

All this parade and celebratory talk may be seen as a subtle message to the incoming Trump administration about value nursing Alliance – the “stronger together” argument. “The instructions I received from President Biden on Day One were, ‘Get in there, rejuvenate, re-energize, even re-imagine our alliances and partnerships,'” Blinken said.

This was another opportunity for Blinken to raise the Biden administration’s foreign policy report card…and his own report card. He explained: “If the United States is not engaged, if we are not leading, it is likely that someone else will do it (and perhaps not in a way that reflects our interests and values), or perhaps just as bad, no one is leading.” “What we’ve done over the last four years is we’ve re-engaged.”

As for Ukraine, he told the press in Brussels: “In total, the United States has provided $102 billion in aid to Ukraine, and our allies and partners have provided $158 billion. This may be the best example of burden sharing that I have seen in Ukraine.” 32 years I’ve been doing this.”

Critics fear that President-elect Trump wants to end Russia’s war with Ukraine no In favor of Ukraine. Blinken, ever the diplomat, did not say he was trying to prove the likely outcome to Trump. “For any of us to really speculate at this point, I don’t think it makes a lot of sense,” Blinken said. “The common sense is to make sure that we give the incoming administration, and we give the incoming Trump administration, the strongest possible hand to play around the world, whether that’s regarding Ukraine or anything else.”

Antony Blinken, 62, was practically born to be Secretary of State. His father, financier and philanthropist Donald Blinken, served as ambassador to Hungary. His stepfather, international lawyer and humanitarian Samuel Pizar, was a Holocaust survivor from Poland. Blinken said: “He was on a death march outside the camps, and he and some friends managed to escape the death march itself, and hid in the Bavarian forests.” “They saw a tank with a white five-pointed star on it. The hatch opened, and a very large African-American soldier looked at him, knelt down and said the only words he knew in English that his mother had taught him before the war: ‘God Bless America.’ And the soldier lifted him into the tank, To freedom, to the United States, those are the stories I grew up hearing, and they made me feel like there was something special about our country.”

Blinken grew up in Paris. He attended Harvard Law School, Columbia, and in 1993, during President Clinton’s first term, began his diplomatic career at the State Department. During one administration after another, Blinken has always been “in the room where things happen.” He was there (right, in background) in the famous photo when President Obama took out Osama bin Laden.

Blinken was national security adviser to then-Vice President Joe Biden. The two are exceptionally close. “One of the things that has been a great privilege is to have the kind of relationship where he seeks my advice, and with him I have always felt able to speak my mind,” Blinken said.

Bob Woodward’s latest book, “The War,” states that after President Biden’s shaky debate performance last July, Blinken met with the president and asked him to consider whether he “wanted to do this for another four years?”… adding, “No.” “I want to see your legacy at risk.”

The legacies of Blinken and Biden are inevitably linked, for better or worse. Blinken defended the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan during his reign, reminding the world that the first Trump administration had concluded a deal with the Taliban to force them to withdraw.

About their tense relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the devastation in Gaza, in response to the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the appearance that Netanyahu does not respect the role that the United States attempts to play (and has helped finance) in its support of Israel, as it has been ignored Calls to protect and feed people Blinken said: “The quickest and most effective way to get people what they need is actually through what we have been trying to achieve for several months now, and that is A ceasefire, with the hostages returning to their homes, and massive aid entering.”

Even this late in the game, Blinken is hopeful that an agreement can be reached before Inauguration Day. But if not? He said: “When this agreement is reached, it will be on the basis of what President Biden put forward.”

Who will get the credit? “You know, in the end, it doesn’t matter,” Blinken said. “What really matters is whether the United States can make real change, real change in people’s lives.”

It still looks perfect. There’s something a little strange about Antony Blinken. After all, he’s the guy who promoted music diplomacy by performing the Muddy Waters blues standard, “Hoochie Coochie Man,” in a suit and tie:

What will he do now? It’s ambiguous about that. When he left NATO headquarters for the last time as Secretary of State, I asked him: “Can’t you not feel strong emotions when you know you’re leaving this building?”

“Absolutely,” Blinken said. “Look, there’s always going to be a moment. Someone says something to you, there’s some generous appreciation, and for about 30 seconds you feel it. You take it seriously. But then, I get back to work. That’s really my focus right now. Talk to me in January 21.”

Watch: Secretary of State Blinken talks about America’s role in Syria (Web Extra)

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The story was produced by Ed Furgutson. Editor: Remington Koerber.