“Joe Biden had trumpeted the return of American leadership, but the latter is slow to manifest itself” – Le Monde

Chronic. The first European tour Joe Biden had come down to a walk in the park. It will be different with the one which will begin on October 29 in Rome with a meeting with Pope Francis and which will end in Glasgow, Scotland, as part of the COP26, after a G20 summit, also in Italy.

In June, the Democrat’s tactile and debonair diplomacy had produced its effects. After Donald Trump’s policy of arms crossed, summed up by a photo of the artwork, which showed the former businessman stubborn air, alone against all, taken at the G7 summit in Canada, in 2018, everyone wanted to believe in the page turned. The new president of the United States was even able to take advantage of his good image to mention China, which has become the first American concern, in a press release from the Atlantic Alliance. A first.

A little over four months later, Joe Biden has however squandered part of his credit. Its hasty unilateral withdrawal from Afghanistan, then the cavalier management of a defense agreement directed against Beijing which France brutally paid the price, as much because of the cancellation of a naval contract as of its exclusion from a circle. narrowly Anglo-Saxon, have weakened ties with friends of the United States. The practice has undermined the discourse. Joe Biden continues to present the alliances woven by Washington – and spewed out by Donald Trump, who saw only constraints – as an asset for American power.

Uncomfortable with the unexpected

The return of expertise also promised by the new president, after four years of permanent nervous breakdowns, was not accompanied by the expected dividends either. The Democrat is not the only culprit in this matter. By regularly blocking long confirmation processes for low political considerations, Republican Senate officials have prevented key positions from being quickly filled and disrupted the functioning of the United States’ diplomatic machine. After Donald Trump’s scuttling in 2018 of a compromise that had made it possible to curb Iran’s nuclear program, the inability of Washington and its allies to quickly conclude a much-awaited agreement with Tehran is also largely due to the intransigence of the Iranian authorities.

It prevents. On two occasions, during the brief Gaza crisis in May, such as the fall of Kabul in August, the new administration has been uncomfortable with the unexpected, unable to adapt quickly. to a situation she would not have anticipated. Joe Biden also troubled by briefly vouching for Taiwan’s autonomy on October 21, briefly breaking with the traditional “Strategic ambiguity” from Washington, before a swift reversal.

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