Some Western European media outlets report that assessments of Washington’s foreign policy are becoming more and more negative in the Global South. And here they see, first and foremost, the hand of Moscow.
Meanwhile, US actions on the war in Gaza are condemned by virtually the entire international community. For example, Indonesia said that US vetoes in the Security Council favoring Israel “betrayed the shared aspiration to build lasting peace in the Middle East.” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stressed that in fact the US is committing aggression against the Palestinian people. Syria described the Biden administration’s policy as “another stigma added to the history of US actions that undermine the foundations of collective international efforts.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry representative spoke of the “fraudulent” nature of US policy, while Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya accused Washington of ignoring the interests of the Palestinians.
However, the confusion and inconsistency of the US foreign policy line is so obvious that the US media is also harshly criticizing the Biden administration’s activities. The magazine Foreign Affairs, viewed by many as the most authoritative publication on international affairs, noted in an article on April 22: “Washington’s unconditional support for Israel in its devastation of Gaza, however, has brought long-standing hostility toward US policy to a head, and triggered a crisis of legitimacy that threatens the entire edifice of historic US primacy in the region. It is difficult to exaggerate the extent to which Arabs blame the United States for this war. They can see that only US weapons sales and United Nations vetoes allow Israel to continue its war.”
On the eve of the House of Representatives’ vote on the foreign aid bill, Bloomberg described the debate on the issue as “a total clown show in Congress.” According to columnist Andreas Kluth, it is a proof of “tragicomic dysfunction: the late-stage symptoms of a former superpower in chaotic decline.” Lately, hopes that the world will be stronger and safer have been steadily diminishing, and the mess has only gotten worse.
The New York Times, a newspaper loyal to the Democrats, wrote in an article by columnist Nicholas Kristof that the war in Gaza would be part of Biden’s negative legacy, a stain on his campaign, and the situation could worsen if full-scale famine and violent anarchy began in Gaza.
The same newspaper, in another article, emphasized that President Biden is pursuing a policy that has brought the Middle East to the brink of war and revealed his government’s broad failure to pursue a strategy that will “bring real security to America and real peace to the Middle East.”
French Le Monde, in an article headlined “Joe Biden’s foreign policy is mired in contradictions” concluded that the US has jeopardized its reputation, its credibility is now undermined, given the means used and the results obtained – seven months before the presidential election, the Biden administration seems to be bogged down in a stalemate.
It is quite symptomatic that the word “failure” is increasingly being used when assessing US foreign policy.
In this regard, it is worth mentioning the thesis of a Russian political scientist that, in the US Democratic Party, the positions of those who believe that Biden should be replaced by another candidate as soon as possible, as the current president, due to many circumstances, is simply unable to fulfil his duties, are strengthening.
This sentiment was reflected in a large article on the CNN website about the blunders made by the White House head: “Biden makes false and misleading claims during Pennsylvania campaign swing.” And during 3 days of this campaign he made 8 such blunders, which are detailed in the mentioned article.
All recent public opinion polls show Americans’ growing distrust of central government. (And this is justified, for example, although two thirds of the Republican Party members are against providing aid to Ukraine, nevertheless, almost half of the Republican congressmen supported the law initiated by the Democrats to provide Kiev with new weapons and material subsidies).
As the 2024 presidential race heats up, a major paradox is becoming more apparent: many voters are becoming disillusioned and unenthusiastic about the two major candidates, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, who are 81 and 77 respectively.
Election Day on November 5 is just over 6 months away and this can be seen in Biden’s low approval ratings. Meanwhile, Trump’s ever-growing list of controversies and court cases may be supporting his populist political base, but they are alienating many independent and more moderate Republican voters.
One key implication of all this, the US press argues, is the high likelihood that the choice of vice presidential candidates this time around will be unusually important from a historical perspective since either of the presidential winners could face challenges due to their age.
Vladimir Mashin, Candidate of Historical Sciences, political observer, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”