Biden wobbles under weight of multiple open fronts around the world

US President Joe Biden's likely Republican opponent, former president Donald Trump, has zeroed in on the global instability as an excuse to attack Biden as weak. (Reuters/File)
Short Url
Updated 25 January 2024
Follow

Biden wobbles under weight of multiple open fronts around the world

  • The US is not at war, but entanglement in multiple military fronts — plus the ongoing migrant strife along the US-Mexico border — is not an ideal environment for Biden as he ramps up his campaign for reelection in November

WASHINGTON: Long gone is the Joe Biden of February 2023, strolling confidently through the streets of Kyiv, basking in the role as champion of the Ukrainian cause in the fight against Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Nearly one year after that triumphant appearance, the US president is instead facing the harsh realities of running for re-election while bogged down in one stagnant war and navigating the volatility of another, as the conflict in Gaza threatens at any moment to ignite the entire Middle East.
In fact, Israel’s war with Hamas has already boiled over into the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden as Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthi rebels have attacked ships in the region and other pro-Iranian groups have targeted American troops in Iraq in Syria. Both have sparked retaliatory US strikes.
The United States is not at war, but entanglement in multiple military fronts — plus the ongoing migrant strife along the US-Mexico border — is not an ideal environment for Biden as he ramps up his campaign for reelection in November.
And even worse for the 81-year-old Democrat: his likely Republican opponent, former president Donald Trump, has zeroed in on this global instability as an excuse to attack Biden as weak.

For Democratic consultant Melissa DeRosa, “the feeling of instability caused by these conflicts, to say nothing of the border issues, will play a role in this election.”
“I do think it’s going to be a problem for Joe Biden,” she said, and “be something that Trump continues to play up” — especially the migration crisis, which she calls the president’s “Achilles’ heel” as record numbers of migrants have entered the United States in recent months.
Foreign policy has historically played only small roles in US presidential campaigns, and, barring major developments, those fundamentals are unlikely to change in 2024.
But Trump, well on his way to sewing up the Republican nomination, is spinning this anxiety around global uncertainty to his advantage — a message that lands well among his supporters.
“Foreign entities respect (Trump) more and fear him more than the present occupant of the White House,” New Hampshire Trump voter and 72-year-old architect Tony Ferrantello told AFP ahead of the state’s primary Tuesday.
Biden’s approval rating on foreign policy is underwater: 58 percent say they disapprove of his handling of international affairs, compared to 36 percent who approve, according to December-January poll average from the site RealClearPolitics.
It is an uncomfortable position for Biden, who presents himself as a foreign policy old hat, with eight years of dealing with world leaders as Barack Obama’s vice president and multiple terms as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Furthermore, Biden prides himself on having reinvigorated international alliances, including with NATO and in Asia, after having spent much of his 2020 campaign promising to bring America “back” to the world stage after the chaotic, isolationist Trump years.

But difficulties with the war in Ukraine loom large, as Biden has tried to position himself as leader of a vast multinational coalition supporting Kyiv after Russia’s 2022 invasion, all while avoiding direct confrontation between Washington and Moscow.
Now, two years on, he is dealing with fatigue from lawmakers and voters unsure about continuing to foot the bill for Ukraine’s defense without tangible returns on their investment.
In Congress, Republican opponents link these two issues together, offering their support for Ukraine aid in exchange for tougher immigration policies at the southern border.
Complicating matters further is Biden’s unwavering support for Israel’s war against Hamas, which has exposed him to intense criticism from his own supporters and others on the left.
Pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted Biden several times Tuesday during a speech on abortion rights, an issue the president is making central to his reelection campaign.
That tension could come back to bite him in November in key election swing states like Michigan, where there is a large Arab and Muslim population, and among young voters — both groups that are more likely to take issue with Biden’s handling of the war.
And that is all without even mentioning the potential of yet another front: in North Korea, as tensions between the North and staunch US ally South Korea have steadily worsened.
“North Korea exhibits a tendency to ramp up provocations during US election years,” warned Victor Cha and Andy Lim at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
 


Trump eyes Erdogan’s help to end Ukraine war

Updated 7 sec ago
Follow

Trump eyes Erdogan’s help to end Ukraine war

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Monday he wanted to work with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, after the two leaders spoke by telephone.
Trump added on his Truth Social network that Erdogan had also invited him to visit Turkiye and that the Turkish leader would be meeting him in Washington.
“I look forward to working with President Erdogan on getting the ridiculous, but deadly, War between Russia and Ukraine ended — NOW!” Trump posted.
Trump, who promised to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours of starting his second term in January, has been pushing Kyiv and Moscow to reach a ceasefire deal.
NATO member Turkiye has sought to maintain good relations with both of its Black Sea neighbors since the Russian invasion and has twice hosted talks aimed at ending the war.
The two leaders also discussed “all things Syria, Gaza and more” in what Trump called a “very good and productive telephone conversation” with Erdogan.
Trump said he and Erdogan had an “excellent” relationship during his first term as US president from 2017 to 2021.
The Turkish president’s office said Erdogan had told Trump that US efforts to ease sanctions on Syria would “contribute” to stabilizing the war-torn country.
Washington has said any normalization or lifting of sanctions following the December ouster of Bashar Assad will depend on verifiable progress by Syria’s new authorities on priorities including actions against “terror.”
Erdogan also thanked Trump for his “approach to ending wars,” with the statement mentioning Ukraine, Gaza and negotiations on Iran.
He raised the issue of the war-battered Gaza Strip, telling Trump that humanitarian aid should “be delivered to Gaza without interruption.”
Israel halted all aid to the 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza in March and its security cabinet has approved the expansion of military operations in Gaza including the “conquest” of the Palestinian territory.
Trump is due to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week.

Spain probes deaths of thousands of Spaniards in Nazi camps

Updated 05 May 2025
Follow

Spain probes deaths of thousands of Spaniards in Nazi camps

  • Thousands of Spaniards fled to France after Franco’s Fascist-backed nationalists overthrew a republic in the 1936-1939 civil war
  • They found themselves under Nazi occupation in France from 1940

MADRID: Spanish prosecutors on Monday said they were investigating whether General Francisco Franco’s dictatorship collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II to send thousands of exiled Spaniards in France to death camps.
Thousands of Spaniards fled to France after Franco’s Fascist-backed nationalists overthrew a republic in the 1936-1939 civil war, only to find themselves under Nazi occupation in France from 1940.
The investigation will “clarify the relevant responsibilities and the existence of a possible joint strategy” between Franco’s dictatorship and Nazi Germany “in the detention and subsequent transfer of thousands of Spaniards exiled in France to different extermination camps,” the public prosecutor’s office said.
The Mauthausen camp in Austria was among the sites where the republican exiles “were subjected to forced labor, torture, disappearance and murder,” the prosecutor’s office added.
The human rights and democratic memory section of the office will lead the inquiry into the 4,435 recorded dead.
The prosecutors’ office said the probe coincided with the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Mauthausen and was launched in accordance with a divisive 2022 democratic memory law.
The left-wing government passed the legislation in a bid to tackle the legacy of the civil war and honor victims of violence and persecution under Franco, who ruled with an iron fist until his death in 1975.
The right-wing opposition says the left is trying to reopen the wounds of the past with the law and has vowed to repeal it if they return to power.


Rwanda in ‘initial’ talks with US over migration deal

Updated 05 May 2025
Follow

Rwanda in ‘initial’ talks with US over migration deal

  • Great Lakes nation — often viewed as an island of stability in a turbulent region — previously made a similar multi-million deal with Britain to receive deported illegal migrants
  • FM Olivier Nduhungirehe: ‘Those reports are true, we are engaged in discussions with the Government of the United States of America’

KIGALI: Rwanda and Washington are in the early stages of talks to receive immigrants from the United States, the Rwandan foreign minister told state media.
Washington has been pushing a mass deportation drive, with President Donald Trump’s administration negotiating highly controversial arrangements to send migrants to third countries.
The Great Lakes nation — often viewed as an island of stability in a turbulent region — previously made a similar multi-million deal with Britain to receive deported illegal migrants. However, it was scrapped immediately after a new government was elected last year.
Foreign minister Olivier Nduhungirehe confirmed earlier reports that Rwanda was among countries talking to Washington over a migrant deal, following a question on state TV on Sunday.
“Those reports are true, we are engaged in discussions with the Government of the United States of America,” he said.
Noting the similar agreement with the British, Nduhungirehe said such a deal “is not something new to us.”
However, while he confirmed that the two nations were engaged in “ongoing” talks, he said “they are not yet conclusive to determine the direction this will take.”
“I would say the discussions are in their initial stages, but we continue to talk about this problem of migrants,” he said, without giving further details.
When contacted by AFP about the talks he said: “You will be informed when the discussions will be finalized.”
Washington’s deal with El Salvador has created a furor, notably after a US official acknowledged that authorities mistakenly expelled one Salvadoran man but that the United States could not bring him back.
The Kigali-London deal was also controversial, with the UK’s Supreme Court ruling that sending migrants to Rwanda through the agreement would be illegal because it “would expose them to a real risk of ill-treatment.”
The tiny nation of roughly 13 million people has been criticized by rights groups over its human rights record and increasingly diminished freedom of speech.
Rwanda has also faced mounting pressure over its involvement in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the east of which has been re-engulfed in conflict after a lightning strike by a Rwandan-backed military group.


UK royals lead celebrations to mark 80 years since WWII end

Updated 05 May 2025
Follow

UK royals lead celebrations to mark 80 years since WWII end

  • Charles and Camilla were joined by Princess Anne, Prince Edward, Prince William and his wife Catherine along with their children George, Charlotte and Louis

LONDON: A military parade, fly-past and balcony appearance by the royal family on Monday kicked off four days of UK celebrations marking 80 years since the end of World War II.
King Charles III saluted as around 1,000 members of the UK armed forces, joined by NATO colleagues from the US, France and Germany, along with 11 soldiers from Ukraine waving their country’s flag reached the end of the procession in front of Buckingham Palace.
Tens of thousands defied the damp weather on the Union Jack-lined Mall to watch the parade, which began with Winston Churchill’s 1945 victory speech, voiced by actor Timothy Spall.
“Do not yield to violence and tyranny, march straight forward and die if need be, unconquered,” bellowed Spall, standing in front of Churchill’s statue in Parliament Square.
The procession culminated in a fly past featuring aerobatic team The Red Arrows and 23 current and historic military aircraft, which the 76-year-old monarch watched from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
Charles and Queen Camilla were joined by Princess Anne, Prince Edward, Prince William and his wife Catherine along with their children George, Charlotte and Louis.
As European countries gear up to celebrate Victory in Europe (VE) Day on May 8, the war in Ukraine is a reminder “that peace is never to be taken for granted,” Charles told the Italian parliament last month.
“Today, sadly, the echoes of those times — which we fervently hoped had been consigned to history — reverberate across our continent,” the king said.
It was from the same balcony on May 8, 1945, that King George VI and Queen Elizabeth — alongside daughters princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, and then-prime minister Churchill — greeted tens of thousands of Londoners celebrating what Churchill declared the “day of victory in Europe.”
That night, the two princesses, then 19 and 14, were allowed to leave the palace and join the jubilant crowds incognito.
Some 40 years later, Elizabeth, by then queen, described the night as “one of the most memorable” of her life.
This year’s commemorations will take on extra poignancy given the fading of the “Greatest Generation.”
Younger generations are increasingly disconnected from the conflict that shook the continent from 1939 to 1945.
“It’s important to remember some of the poor devils who didn’t make it like I did,” 99-year-old Royal Air Force veteran Dennis Bishop told AFP.
Buckingham Palace will later host a reception celebrating veterans and people of the WWII generation.
The first act on a chilly Monday morning in London was the draping of two huge Union Jack flags on the Cenotaph war memorial.
Hundreds of people set up camp outside Buckingham Palace with chairs and rugs.
“It’s so emotional to be here today. Eighty years of peace and peace of mind. Where would we be without them?” asked Patrick Beacon, 76, who arrived with his wife at around 7:00 am (0600 GMT) to get the “best view.”
Tourists included 52-year-old Ludivine Batthelot from southern France.
“We came out of curiosity because it’s the kind of celebration that the English do so well,” she told AFP. “It’s folklore, we wanted to be in the mood and live the experience.”
Among other events, there was to be a party on HMS Belfast — one of the few surviving British warships from WWII — which is moored on the banks of the Thames.
And people were invited to take part in hundreds of other parties, 1940s dress-up events, picnics, installations and commemorations that take place across the country through the week until VE Day on Thursday.
On Tuesday, Queen Camilla will visit an art installation of around 30,000 ceramic red poppies — symbols of remembrance for the war dead — at the iconic Tower of London.
Celebrations will draw to a close on Thursday with a two-minute national silence at government buildings.
Charles, who has been undergoing treatment for cancer, will attend a service at Westminster Abbey, followed by a concert at London’s Horse Guards Parade.
The royal family was hoping “nothing will detract or distract” from the celebrations after Prince Harry, Charles’ youngest son, gave a bombshell interview on Friday, according to UK media.
Pubs across the country have been allowed to stay open two hours later as part of the celebrations.


In Dhaka, Makkah Route facility eases Bangladeshi pilgrims’ Hajj journey

Updated 05 May 2025
Follow

In Dhaka, Makkah Route facility eases Bangladeshi pilgrims’ Hajj journey

  • Around 87,000 Bangladeshis will be going for Hajj in 2025
  • Special pilgrimage flights from Dhaka began on April 29

Dhaka: Bangladeshi pilgrims have welcomed the Hajj immigration procedures under the Makkah Route initiative, which are easing the process for tens of thousands of pilgrims departing for Saudi Arabia from the nation’s main international airport.

Most of the pilgrims are departing from Dhaka under the flagship pre-travel program.

The Kingdom launched the initiative in 2019 to help pilgrims meet all the visa, customs and health requirements at the airport of origin and save them long hours of waiting before and upon arrival in Saudi Arabia.

This year, Hajj is expected to start on June 4, and special pilgrimage flights from the Bangladeshi capital began on April 29.

“The Makkah Route initiative … It’s very pleasant for the pilgrims of Bangladesh. It is, of course, time-saving and being done comfortably,” Hajj director Mohammad Lokman Hossain told Arab News over the weekend.

“They didn’t have to wait in a long queue and it’s very beneficial to the pilgrims.”

Bangladesh is among seven Muslim-majority countries — including Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Morocco, Turkiye and Cote d’Ivoire — where Saudi Arabia is operating its Makkah Route initiative.

One of the most populous Muslim-majority countries, Bangladesh was granted a quota of 127,000 pilgrims in 2025. But only about 87,000 will be going this year due to high inflation and rising cost of airfares to the Middle East.

The pilgrims appreciated the way the Saudi facility was organized at the airport as they prepared to board their flights to the Kingdom.

“We have completed the immigration formalities very easily. There was no delay, no waiting. It’s like we came and everything was done,” Mohammad Ruhul Kuddus, a businessman from Dhaka, told Arab News.

For Oaliur Reza, the immigration process took only a minute.

“I had no idea about these services. I just found out about it for the first time and I had a very good experience,” Reza said.

“Just within a minute, I passed the immigration, and I liked this service the most.”

Abdul Awal, a businessman from the city of Feni, recalled how different it had been the first time he performed Hajj, when the Makkah Route initiative was not yet introduced.

“I like the current system a lot. It made things easier. The difficulties of the pilgrims have been reduced now significantly compared to the years before (the Makkah Route initiative),” Awal said.

“There were plenty of computerized service counters here for the pilgrims. Praise be to God, it’s very good.”