On Tuesday, March 1, the first official address of US President Joe Biden to the American nation and Congress "On the state of the country" took place. The American leader devoted a quarter of his speech to Ukraine.
Regarding the state of affairs directly in the United States, there was no unity: the president mostly received applause from colleagues in the Democratic Party.
Already from the remarks prepared in advance for the press, which were distributed by the White House, it became clear that the central theme of the speech would be support for Kiev and confrontation with Moscow. The Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States Oksana Markarova was waiting for the speech of the American leader in the first rows. She was sitting next to the first lady, Jill Biden.
There were also Republican leaders in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, and in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, who had a miniature Ukrainian flag in his buttonhole. Sometimes it seemed that the broadcast was coming not from the building of the American Congress, but from the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, since the flags of this country were everywhere. Many women preferred to wear suits in the color of the Ukrainian flag - yellow alternated with blue (it's nice that they support, but with flags it's definitely too much).
After that, Mr. Biden solemnly announced that his country would join the sanctions of partners to close the skies for Russian airlines. This, according to a number of experts, was a formality, since other states and territories critical for the route between Russia and the United States (including Canada and Greenland) have already done it.
Joe Biden said that Washington, together with its allies, froze Russia's foreign exchange reserves, making them useless to support the ruble exchange rate.
"Tonight I can also announce that the United States has worked with 30 other countries to release 60 million barrels of oil from reserves around the world. America will allocate 30 million barrels," he said. The head of the White House also repeated that he does not plan to send American soldiers to fight Russia in Ukraine, but is ready to defend the sovereignty of NATO members.
When Mr. Biden made threats against the Russian Federation and with words in support of the Ukrainian people, all those present rose at the same time and applauded. And they even pretended not to notice the reservation of the president, who once called the Ukrainian people "Iranian" (apparently, it's hard for an elderly president to pronounce two letters more, so he shortened it). But Twitter users did not fail to pay attention to this and even caught the moment when Kamala Harris whispered "Ukrainian" to herself, trying to correct the president.
Speaking, the American leader insisted that heavy sanctions against Russia would not affect the United States. "Everything will be fine with us," he concluded the Ukrainian part, which took as much as 13 minutes in an hour-long speech.
However, in the second part of his speech - on the adoption of bills that raise questions from Republicans - Mr. Biden no longer received such support. Mostly the applause was only from Democrats. Therefore, I am afraid that the general distrust of the Congress of the president will sooner or later be transferred to the problem of Ukraine.
There were even embarrassments several times. So, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, hurried to applaud one of the president's initiatives and found himself completely alone. He looked back at the Democrats standing behind him, and only then did they applaud in unison.
However, Americans, as Senator Barrasso assured, "do not want to listen to fairy tales": "Joe Biden on Tuesday can brag and brag as much as he wants, but Americans know better. They will respond - loudly and clearly - in November (at the midterm congressional elections)."
That's why, my dear Ukrainian friends, we need to be more careful with the promises of the US president regarding Ukraine, because in America, the people still decide, not the authorities. As it should be in a real democracy...
Interestingly, the US senator from the US state Ted Cruz harshly criticized the speech of US President Joe Biden in Congress, saying that the head of the White House is "divorced from reality." "It was the most detached speech about the situation in the country that I have ever heard. ...He acknowledged galloping inflation, but did not say a word about the trillions of expenses and trillions of debts that he spent causing this inflation," Cruz said.
The politician also drew attention, Biden acknowledged the invasion of Russia, but "did not say a word about the catastrophic weakness of his own administration." "He did not mention the shameful withdrawal from Afghanistan or his decision to lift sanctions against Russia over Putin's Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline, which directly led to this invasion. When the American president is weak and when he is considered weak, our enemies in the world become more dangerous," Cruz added.
As for the prospects with anti-Russian sanctions on oil, here we also need to lower our expectations from Joe Biden. Representatives of both parties in Congress are now struggling to get tougher anti-Russian sanctions and a ban on the import of Russian oil.
