Biden’s Search For Firm Footing

President of the United States, Joe Biden, 80, completes two years at the White House on Friday. Whether he said as a matter of electoral strategy or on the basis of perceived threat to the prevailing system of governance, the 46th American president, on a number of occasions this year, expressed concern over what he sees as a crisis faced by the US democracy.  Democracy is at risk, he said, on the eve of the midterm polls in November. Commentators and sections of the media agreed with him that the election results would determine whether American democracy would endure. The Democrats lost the majority at the new House of Representatives.  

Afghanistan set the first indication of a major turn of global events and the Ukrainian war crystallised the emerging world of non-US hegemony. The 2001 attack on Afghanistan by US-led two dozen allies did not adversely affect their people much. But it did not trigger energy crisis, inflation, big spurt in household goods, dedollarisation, power cuts and chillier nights that at least two generations had not experienced, lost businesses, reduced profits and great discomfort.

Now Europe is reassessing not just the war but also the sanctions it applied against Russia primarily in handshake with the US. The sanctions have hardly hit anything significantly inconvenient for Americans in general as much as thy have inflicted on their European counterparts. The war profit from US gas sales at jacked up prices has left the cousins across the Atlantic bitter and acrimonious, when Europe was faithfully supportive of Washington but only to bear the brunt of the sanctions that resulted in higher prices, record inflation rates and marked reduction in the living standards in several decades. 

Tricky track

Experts in Europe worry and warn that a drastically different global economic power equation is likely to set in, thanks to the Ukraine crisis. For they had not expected how Russian President Vladimir Putin would respond to the Western moves. Moscow’s retaliatory measures have begun to hurt the target opponents deeper by the day. Washington sanctioned dozens of Russian “oligarchs” and individuals close to Putin, who refused to denounce him. This flashed a seriously wrong signal to many powerful individuals and institutions involved in trade, infrastructure building and investment plans. Governments, too, began to subtly seek alternative avenues for business and cooperation. 

Overreliance on the US dollar was one of the areas that has borne close scrutiny against the background of the manner in which the West was summarily declared Russian money and property abroad frozen. That sent shock waves, even if borne in active silence. The outcome are significant migrations from the dollar to Russian ruble and Chinese yuan. Other currencies, too, might emerge as more widely accepted mode of business transactions in the days ahead. 

Biden’s takeoff as the US president could not gain much height partly because of failure to come up with foreign policy initiatives that addressed appropriately the assertive emergence of Russia and the new superpower China. Public approval rating remained rather lacklustre by the time he completed the first 100 days in office. 

People normally would expect his ratings to soar in the aftermath of the turmoil-ridden last days of the outgoing President Donald Trump at the White House. But it did not happen. On the foreign policy front, too, Biden continues to draw heavy flak over the hasty and unprepared manner in which the US troops were pulled out of Afghanistan. The confusion, chaos, sufferings the hapless Afghan underwent left even its European allies and NATO members stunned. 

Biden has not been able to erase doubts among his European allies, not to speak of the rest of the international community, that he wants the war in Ukraine to prolong with the hope to entrapping Russia with a relentlessly bleeding wound. Washington’s efforts at persuading the oil-rich Arab community in West Asia to pump oil at a faster rate as a counterweight to the continuing European dependence on Russian oil were met with a resounding rebuff when the latter refused to oblige the US suggestions. 

Desperate to improve the oil and gas supply chain, the US president tried reaching out to Venezuelan President Nocolas Maduro, whose elected government Washington does not recognise, but of no success. During the 2020 election campaign, Biden had vowed to treat Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, who the CIA concludes was behind the killing of the Saudi journalist working for The Washington Post. Once coming to power, however, Biden made overtures to Salman. He travelled to Riyadh in the hope of bringing the prince aboard the US move to improve oil supply chain and reduce reliance on Russian oil.  

About-turns

The U-turns did damage to the lofty image Biden had sought to project for himself. His current public approval is below 45 per cent compared with Putin’s 70 per cent even after 23 years in power. Racism persists. The first black president of the US, Barack Obama did not dare made candid statements on the ills and evil of slavery and colonisation that the superpower nation’s history is filled with. He preferred the White House residence more than the uncertainty of winning the vast billions of people’s hearts and warmth. Had he done that and made it to the White House, he would not have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize — something India’s Mohan Karmchand Gandhi did not receive.

A major symbol of the US superpower status, the dollar since summer has begun to decline in demand as alternative currencies have begun emerging from the current conflict emanating from the Ukrainian crisis.

Biden’s son Hunter Biden is accused of dubious deals made at the expense of his father’s position as vice-president and then as president. The Republicans are out for avenging the shabby manner in which the Democrats, particularly their leader Nancy Pelosi, treated President Trump on the floors of the House of Representatives. Clearly, Biden faces more challenging times midway through his four-year term. He needs much skill and luck in good measure to steer his remaining two years in office. 

(Professor Kharel specialises in political communication.)