By Bruce Wolpe. Senior Fellow at the United States Studies Centre and Ticker News US political contributor
Biden has officially handled his first foreign policy crisis – but what does this tell us?
President Biden successfully brought the war in Gaza to an end – at least for now. How did he do it? What does it mean for his foreign policy going forward?
First and foremost, the past two weeks showed us how much Bide’s deep expertise – decades of it in the Senate as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, and eight years as vice president under Barack Obama – and he brought it fully to bear on Gaza. He has seen war in Gaza before. He knew what to do. He knows the players. He knew how he wanted to get there.
Biden operates more inside than outside. He worked the phones – and not the UN. His language with Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu was very measured – in public. It was much harder in private. And he ratcheted it up each day — from “Israel has a right to defend itself” to “De-escalate” to “Ceasefire” – to the point where, when the moment was ripe late last week, he said: “Ceasefire. Now”.
He will do more for Palestine but in the context of a press for a two-state solution to the conflict.
Biden stands with allies. In the Gaza crisis, He supported Israel. He worked with Egypt’s al-Sisi, and the Palestinian’ Authority’s Mahmoud Abbas. And those alliances paid off.
In his broader foreign policy agenda, Biden is going forward with a “New Realism”: the projection of American values — democracy, human rights — together with the US engaging with anyone in good faith to get done what can be achieved by reaching the best working relationship without compromising US values. So this will guide what happens with Russia and China and North Korea and Iran.
With Biden, Asia is at parity with US attention to Europe and the Middle East. The first two White House visitors were the leaders of Japan and South Korea.
The top priorities are clear: Rebuild US alliances.
China: re-engage and demand clear rules for conduct in Asia. In fact, push back as needed – US allies alongside pushing with Biden.
Climate: make decisive progress possible.
Iran: a deal if it can be done.
Russia: Ukraine; cyber security; the fate of dissident Navalney.
North Korea: a deep effort to get Kim to roll back his nuclear arsenal.
What Biden accomplished last week showed us how he wants to advance US interests through his presidency.
