Foreign policy rarely comes up in midterm elections, and this year was no exception. Nevertheless, the elections will have an impact on U.S. foreign policy, and the Biden administration could take advantage of several opportunities by acting “outside the box.”Even though Republicans are getting ready to take control of the House of Representatives, there is room for President Joe Biden to take new actions in the area of national security. With Rep. Kevin McCarthy or any of his troglodyte colleagues serving as Speaker of the House, Biden’s domestic and legislative agendas are practically dead on arrival. Additionally, Biden is aware that advancing a liberal domestic agenda is more challenging than moving forward on foreign policy.
First and foremost, Biden’s plans for Ukraine will be impacted by the midterm elections, particularly his ability to maintain the current rate of military assistance to President Volodymyr Zelensky. More than $60 billion in aid to Ukraine has been authorized by the Biden administration and approved by Congress since the war began nearly nine months ago.McCarthy has already stated that a House led by Republicans would reject “blank check” aid to Ukraine. Rob Portman (OH), Richard Burr (NC), and Ben Sasse (NE), three of the most prominent Republican supporters of military assistance to Ukraine, are leaving the Senate. In 2023, the Republican leadership will be far more concerned with challenging the Russian occupation of Ukraine than they will be with challenging the Biden administration over the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Although it is already evident—even to some Russian politicians and oligarchs—that Moscow has failed miserably, the mainstream media as well as the British Economist believe that Russia needs to suffer a decisive defeat in Ukraine for Vladimir Putin’s failure to be clear. Proceeding with the conflict could prompt an extended clash that includes the North Atlantic Settlement Association (NATO), especially the US, and could prompt the utilization of strategic atomic weapons. The kind of democracy that Zelensky and his colleagues claim they want to establish is greatly endangered if Ukraine experiences even greater economic losses. States in West and East Europe, which will have limited access to Russian oil and natural gas throughout the winter, will also be put to the test by an intensifying conflict.
It’s time to discuss. Ironically, General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been the most vocal advocate for reaching an agreement. The president’s military adviser’s public advocacy of policy is wrong, but in this instance, his ideas should be heard by the National Security Council.
Additionally, it is time for Xi Jinping and Joe Biden to start a serious conversation. This week’s rare face-to-face meeting in Indonesia was a great chance to calm a bitter rivalry that has grown increasingly pointless. The policy of containing China, which is impossible on every level, must be abandoned by Biden. Additionally, Xi Jinping will need to tone down the ultra-nationalism of his statements as well as the “wolf-warrior” diplomats in his Foreign Ministry, which provide U.S. hardliners with the justification for requesting a greater military presence in the Indo-Pacific and increased spending on defence. There is no need to take both steps.
The fields of arms control and disarmament as well as space cooperation offer ample opportunity for institutionalized negotiations involving diplomats and generals, and both Biden and Xi Jinping have the political leeway to pursue a dialogue. In the 1970s and 1980s, U.S.-Soviet relations remained stable as a result of arms control and disarmament talks; China will be a more challenging partner in negotiations, but it is long past time to test the waters to lessen the likelihood of making a mistake.
The two pillars of American policy in the Middle East since the 1940s must also be reevaluated by the Biden administration: Saudi Arabia and Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu is relying on racists and extremists who were once thought to be far too radical for any Israeli government, and Israel is about to install the most right-wing government ever. The ultra-nationalist Jewish Power party led by Itamar Ben-Gvir has grown from a mere 19,000 votes in the 2019 elections to the third-largest political party in 2022 and a key component of the Netanyahu coalition government. “The Israel we knew is gone,” wrote Thomas Friedman in the New York Times last week.
It is time for the Jewish diaspora in the United States and Europe to press Israel for a more humane policy toward its Palestinian community and centrist participation in Netanyahu’s coalition government. Ben-Gvir’s racism is a symbol of the loss of justice and morality in Israeli politics.
Israelis cannot deny using the term “apartheid” to describe their binational politics as long as Palestinians face a military court on the West Bank and Israelis face a civilian court. A third Intifada is increasingly likely to begin at the current rate of Israel’s drift to the right.
When President Biden went to Saudi Arabia in July with a hat on to increase Saudi oil production, he made a mistake. On the eve of the midterm elections, Mohammed bin Salman responded by cutting OPEC production by 2 million barrels per day. This was done to embarrass the president of the United States and make it harder for Democrats to keep their small majority in the House and Senate.
By signalling to Iran about the nuclear deal’s renewal of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), we must remind the Saudis of their dependence on the United States. During the brutal Iranian campaign against the current protest movement, it will be difficult to send such a message, but the Saudis should be aware that the Biden administration is considering taking such a step whenever the opportunity arises. Another option is to stop selling high-tech military weapons.
Immigration is one of many national security concerns; climate change; also, and the pandemic should be tended to, however, they are dependent upon the conservatives’ politicization of each public safety issue. Republican roadblocks affect even the process of confirming U.S. ambassadors in the Senate, which ought to be quick and simple. More than three dozen ambassadorial nominees are currently awaiting Senate confirmation, including important assignments in Brazil, where a new, more friendly government; India, an increasingly challenging international partner; Nigeria, where domestic violence is on the rise; Russia; Saudi Arabia and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
It may be necessary to defer the reexamination of American foreign policy to the immediate concern of safeguarding our democratic institutions and presidential elections. We will, however, remain captives to the authoritarian actions of a future president unless we reform our national security. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that lasted for two decades ought to have prompted reflection. Instead, we’re dealing with the madness of Russia and China’s dual containment. John Locke, a philosopher, warned, “Wherever law ends, tyranny begins.”
