presidency, white house records show he called the iraqi government 64 times in a period in which barack obama called only four times. biden was going back and back and back trying to solve a particularly naughty difficult foreign policy problem. the artificial deadline in this case is not what he s thinking about but he knows they simply have no luxury of not getting this done. i mean, this is about his credibility. in effect, we hang together or apart. and the message he s driving home now is we have to get this done for the sake of the party. and is it clear to you how much he is personally talking with senator cinema or manchin? i assume it s mostly staff to staff. well, actually he and senator manchin do get on the phone. i remember at one point, i was interviewing senator manchin and he was describing a conversation with the president, when the president called and said when
ever policy decision i can t remember what nonsense he said, but your reaction to republicans reactions to this clearly this foreign policy problem that the white house has well, that s the interesting point. i keep thinking about this. there was once time in this country where there would be a decent after a national disaster, after 9/11, where people would at least step back and say, okay, let s get through all of this. remember we re all americans before we get to the finger pointing. that s naive to think it s going to happen. i want to say one thing. whatever you think about this decision, what about you think about the war in afghanistan, these soldiers, the men and bill who are there are showing really extraordinary courage and no one should doubt their mission. you know, they are not giving their lives in vain. i mean, there are whole generations of people who will owe their lives and their safety to the courage and the heroism
Intereconomics
Biden’s Security Policy: Democratic Security or Democratic Exceptionalism?
Forum
Biden’s Security Policy: Democratic Security or Democratic Exceptionalism?
Simona R. Soare, European Union Institute for Security Studies, Paris, France.
Can the Biden administration chart a new course for American security policy given the unprecedented level of polarisation and social unrest in the United States? Can the US lead internationally and build a new transatlantic partnership while tackling the layered political, economic and health crises it faces at home? This article examines the Biden administration s security priorities, tracing elements of change and continuity in US foreign and security policy, and the challenges it faces as it tries to reassert US power and leadership, reassure allies and rebuild partnerships.
with me is seth moulton, an iraq war veteran. thanks, good to be here. trump is declaring a victory. apparently we re rolling tanks in to guard oil field. it s a disaster. it s terrible for our allies on the ground. it s terrible for our troops who feel betrayed by their own commander in chief. it s terrible for the fight against isis. it does help iran, it helps russia, putin. it helps assad, the butcher of syria, and it helps erdogan, putin s protege. don t think this is just versus implications in the middle east. china is watching, north korea is watching, iran is watching. you ran as a national security candidate, in part because you saw a real need for one, considering how many foreign policy problem spots there are from cyberterrorism to isis, russia election meddling.
having the kurds back, i mean, watching their back and protecting their back? yeah, i mean, i think that s what see, here s what happens. you go in, you have all these people that say the answer to every foreign policy problem is to send u.s. troops. then you send the u.s. troops, you make partnerships and if you leave, you leave them high and dry. if you didn t intervene in the first place, you won t have this problem. once you do, i think we have some responsibility to the kurds, that s why i say execution matters. we could have gotten some of them out of there, we could have arranged for safe passage, could have brought some to the the us, we could have negotiated with more leverage to make this less blood and more stable. the kurds are going to suffer for this, no doubt about it. did the kurds think we were going to stay forever? no, both parties knew this was about self interest, self interest for the kurd, self interest for the u.s. the kurdish self interest was trying to mai