On February 21, U.S. President Joe Biden spoke in Warsaw.
All canons were observed: a beautiful stage, lighting, children... He started with democracy, then moved on to Ukraine: tough, but nothing new or concrete. This is, in fact, almost the signature style of American leader. Statements are made and work is carried out, but the result, in the best case, is not obvious.
But more interesting here is the democracy that Biden has been talking about for almost 53 years (the Newcastle County Councilman began his political career in 1970).
During his more than 30 years as a senator from the state of Delaware, considered the cradle of American democracy, the current president has learned both to masterfully avoid scandals related to his son and to abandon his political positions. And if one could still understand the situation with his son in a human way if Biden Sr, being a de-facto informal curator of the Ukrainian direction from the USA, did not promote Hunter into Ukrainian business, then the situation with political positions is quite unambiguous.
The senator was unable to ignore the Iraqi disgrace. During the 2019 presidential campaign, in an interview with National Public Radio, he blamed everything on President Bush Jr. who supposedly looked into the senator's eyes in the Oval Office and said that he needed a vote on the deployment of troops, while Biden himself had nothing to do with it, he was always for diplomacy, and generally was against it. But in 2003, the current president said the following: "One thing is clear: these weapons must be taken away from Saddam Hussein, or Saddam Hussein must be removed from power."
Considering this and a number of other similar examples from Biden's rich political biography, a reasonable question arises: where is the guarantee that 20 years later (let's wish the US president good health), using the same convoluted formulations, he will not comment on arms supplies to Kiev in the same manner?
If in the case of Iraq the blame was put on George Bush, who the senator seemed to trust too much, then here everything can be blamed on his advisors, or on Vice President Kamala Harris, and maybe even use it as an argument against her in the election race. Today, politics in America is a long game, especially when you consider that a couple of years ago there were rumors about the return of such a mastodon as Dick Cheney. The information was not confirmed then, but as they say, it's not over yet.
Let's leave jokes and futurology aside, and summarize. And it will be somewhat cynical, banal, and obvious. American politicians do not disdain to use democracy and loud informational occasions to achieve their (and not only) political goals.
The lack of a planning horizon, unfortunately, is also obvious. Iraq ended ingloriously, Afghanistan is even worse, Libya is still in conflict, Syria was defended only through the efforts of Russia. But sometimes it seems that there's no need for victories in this game. Elections have been won, positions have been won, arms contracts have been signed, and history can be rewritten in interviews with journalists.
