John Donne (1572-1631) concludes his most famous poem by these words: "send not to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls fore thee." This time it tolls for Joe Biden.
Former Indian foreign relations officer M. K. Bhadrakumar states in his last editorial that a defeat in Ukraine would not only be another American humiliation, it would also signal the end of NATO, and the US hegemony. Therefore, the war must go on and be won. But what if it isn't? What if the advanced 190-miles ATACMS makes no difference, as claimed by Putin, and Ukraine is defeated? What will Biden do then? Will he go--pushed out of the White House? Yes, he will! The United States knows when the time comes to cut its losses.
There is "war fatigue" in Europe and in the United States. The U.S./E.U. October 20 Joint Statement is just that: a statement. Biden's address of October 19 to his fellow citizens is a piece of jingoism and cliche's. The truth of the matter is that his trip to the Middle East was an utter failure - a debacle - with the kings of Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and the president of Egypt, refusing to see him! This comes after Antony Blinken's humiliation during his own tour of the Middle East, having to wait one night before being received by Mohammed bin Salman, and later to be admonished by the king of Jordan and the president of Egypt! This is a world turned upside down: the most powerful country in the world being rebuked by leaders of secondary nations.
Biden asked Congress to approve a $105 billion pork barrel budget to deal with the situation in Ukraine and the Middle East. The request is dead on arrival. One, as already stated by Senator Rand Paul, the United States does not have the money, it must borrow it - a third of which is borrowed from foreigners who are demanding higher and higher interest rates as inflation is not subdued. Two, Republicans will object to the $61.4 billion allocated to Ukraine, which brings the amount of money spent on this country so far to $174 billion, i.e., the amount the United States spent on higher education in 2021! Three, Democrats will not be satisfied with the $14.3 billion allocated to Israel, and will demand more. In summary, Biden's policy exacerbates rather than calms down the two conflicts the world is confronted with, as does his decision to veto both the Russian and Brazilian U.N. Security Council's Middle East cease-fire resolutions.
Regarding the situation in the Middle East, Biden totally ignored the warning Vladimir Putin gave him during his Beijing press-conference of October 18: "They have upped and dragged two carrier task forces to the Mediterranean. I want to say - what I am going to say and inform you about is not a threat - that I have instructed the Russian Aerospace Forces to start patrolling the neutral zone over the Black Sea on a permanent basis. Our MiG-31 aircraft carry the Kinzhal systems that, as is common knowledge, have a range of over 1,000 kilometres and can reach speeds of up to Mach 9." In plain terms, the MiG-31s can hit the American fleet, any time they choose. That's a blunt statement coming from a self-controlled leader. Not to be misunderstood, Putin closed his remarks with these words: "I emphasised that this is not a threat. But we will perform visual control, and weapons-based control over what is happening in the Mediterranean Sea."
The Clock of History is turning. US hegemony is a thing of the past. Unknowingly, Joe Biden rung the bell when he withdrew from Afghanistan. Now, he must go to prevent the end of times from coming.
