By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com
President Biden has demonstrated a recognition that Donald J. Trump never did … which is that the world is shrinking in a figurative sense and that the United States cannot possibly go it alone on matters that involve the entire planet.
He delivered a foreign policy speech and told the world that the United States is re-engaging its worldwide allies and calling — get a load of this — for greater attention to human rights.
“Though many of these values have come under intense pressure in recent years, even pushed to the brink in the last few weeks, the American people are going to emerge from this stronger, more determined and better equipped to unite the world in fighting to defend democracy – because we have fought for it ourselves,” he said.
You’ll recall how Donald Trump attended a NATO meeting and upbraided our allies in public for not paying more to defend themselves. He sought to shed our traditional role as guarantor of freedom in western Europe. While it is good that our allies have stepped up and are paying more for their own defense, the public scolding from the U.S. commander in chief left our allies with the feeling that they no longer could trust this country to be there for them when threats emerge.
As USA Today reported: Biden, accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, warned that the U.S. faces a moment of “accelerating global challenges” – from a pandemic to the climate crisis to nuclear proliferation – all of which he said will be solved only by nations working together.
“We can’t do it alone,” he said.
Exactly, Mr. President. We need our allies. We need our alliances from which we frame our relationships with friends around the world.
I am one American who welcomes our return to the Paris Climate Accord and to the World Health Organization, two issues from which Donald Trump severed U.S. involvement as part of his effort to “put America first.”
Greater reliance on our alliances will not compromise American interests, as President Biden said in his 20-minute speech. Thus, Joe Biden also intends — in a far more nuanced and sophisticated manner — to put America first … but we won’t act alone.