DANIEL VAUGHAN: Biden's Best Foreign Policy Moments Come When He's No Longer In Charge
It's one thing to be a lame-duck president but another to be an empty suit. We're in the latter situation now in America; the proof is how our allies treat us. Since Biden stepped aside in the Presidential election, Israel no longer feels compelled to deal with Biden and has conducted the most sweeping eradication of terrorist leaders in a generation, and Ukraine is striking Russian territory.
In short, after removing the restraints from Biden, Israel and Ukraine are using this respite to strike hard against the opposition. Harris is running for President, and it's questionable she's ever read or listened to a single briefing involving either country. That leaves Trump, who is out of office, sympathetic towards Israel and looking for an end to the Ukraine conflict.
Both countries are using the moment when there's no American leadership to flex and build momentum. On the United States side, the White House is making a big show that they're debating the pros and cons of allowing Ukraine to hit targets within Russian territory.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is doing just that, most recently destroying a military arsenal in Russian territory. Additionally, Ukraine has started striking oil depots within Russia, something Biden explicitly told them not to do. The oil depot strikes are particularly important because they strike at the Russian economy's heart and could imperil Putin's capacity to fund the war.
Biden, worried about the impact of oil and gas prices on his re-election chances, stopped Ukraine in the past. Now that he's officially a non-entity, he's gone as a gatekeeper.
Are Ukraine's actions escalatory in nature? Undoubtedly. But if anyone on the United States side were in their shoes, they'd do the same. After Kamala Harris brought him over for campaign photo-ops, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy wisely pivoted to meet with Trump.
Zelenskyy and Ukraine depend on the United States and NATO, providing arms, munitions, and a backstop against Russian aggression. And with Biden out of the picture, they're pushing the envelope, which, if it works, could give Ukraine the first breathing it has had in months over Russia.
It's a similar story with Israel. Biden and Harris have done everything but outright tell Israel not to retaliate for Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist attacks against it, which include near-daily rocket attacks on civilian centers from Hezbollah.
Since Biden stepped down, Israel has cranked their operations against Hezbollah up to 11 and ripped off the knob. They blew up Hezbollah's pagers and walkie-talkies, among other devices, killing many and injuring thousands. Israel's eliminated almost the entirety of Hezbollah's command structure and its backups, including the notoriously bloodthirsty Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah since 1992.
To give you an idea of how awful Nasrallah was, he once said he was happy all Jews were in Israel because it made it easier for him to try and kill them all. His hatred of Jews was as thorough as the Nazis, and he fervently sought similar ends.
Thanks to Israel, he and the other monsters of Hezbollah are enjoying first-class tickets to hell. John Podhoretz writes that it breathed new life into Israel after the brutal news in previous months of dead hostages:
The Netanyahu government acted, and with a kind of determination and confidence that has breathed new strength and a new sense of resolve into the Jewish people. Whatever the divisions and concerns and cautions inside the corridors of power about the astonishing onslaught of Israel against the Iran Axis of Evil, the fact is Israel stared into the abyss and said, "Not today. Not this week. Not this month. Not ever."
None of these actions would have been possible without Biden getting shoved aside by the Democratic Party. On the foreign policy front, it's been arguably the best months of Biden's presidency, even though his State Department is desperately trying to claim these developments, particularly in Israel, are bad.
In a nutshell, that's how bad Biden has been for the United States foreign policy. Merely shoving him to a beach and having allies ignore his existence has produced better results than when his hand was at the controls. The Obama administration's belief that Biden knew nothing about foreign policy is somehow still accurate, even given the overlapping agreement between Obama and Biden.
Of course, this is unsustainable in the long term. The United States cannot continue as a listless vessel regarding foreign policy or anything else. But for a few months, Ukraine and Israel were able to push back against their enemies, which in turn helped us. They took the initiative.
Hopefully, Americans will take the same initiative and vote out the disastrous Biden-Harris administration and the mistakes that connected them to the Obama administration. There's a land war in Europe, and the Middle East is on fire. The Biden administration has nothing but losing plans ahead for everyone.