U.S. falters under Biden. China and Russia notice.

Since Joe Biden took office, it’s been one bad thing after another on the domestic front. A surge in coronavirus cases and deaths (even with the vaccine), a supply chain crisis, runaway inflation, rising violent crime, etc.

There have also been a series of setbacks internationally, and these are directly attributable to Biden. The debacle in Afghanistan was the worst and most important one. It pretty much settled the question, if there was one, of whether Biden is competent to be president and of whether, during his presidency, America has any credibility internationally.

There was also Biden’s mishandling of Australia-US-UK defense pact which caused a deterioration in U.S relations with France, an important ally. And let’s remember that Biden decided not to stand in the way of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will aid Vladimir Putin’s European power plays.

Here’s one more — the situation in Yemen. In the early days of his presidency, Biden decided to remove Yemen’s Houthi rebels from the list of foreign terrorist organizations. He also withdrew weapons support for the coalition aiding Yemen’s government.

Biden hoped to appease Iran and show goodwill towards the Houthis. Perhaps he also wanted to poke Saudi Arabia, leader of the coalition backing Yemen’s government, in the eye for the sin of being cozy with the Trump administration (the friend of my enemy is my enemy).

That’s just speculation on my part. But we need not speculate about how the Houthis have responded to Biden’s Jimmy Carteresque concessions.

The Wall Street Journal points out that Houthi forces have made substantial territorial gains and, emboldened by them, have intensified their offensive in Marib province, the last northern stronghold of the internationally recognized government.

Marib is an oil-rich region. Its capture would be a huge victory for the Houthis.

Houthi forces have also attacked Saudi Arabia itself. They target the kingdom’s airports and oil production facilities.

Then, last week, the Houthis stormed the U.S. embassy compound. We had long ago removed our personnel to Saudi Arabia, but the Houthis took U.S.-employed security personnel hostage.

State Department spokesman Ned (“look on bright side”) Price says “the majority of those who have been detained are no longer in custody.” Yeah, and the majority of Americans in Afghanistan seem to have gotten out. But what about the others?

Under Joe Biden, the U.S. is on its way to becoming “a pitiful, helpless giant,” to borrow Richard Nixon’s description.

Our enemies have noticed. China has become increasingly menacing towards Taiwan. Russia has become increasingly menacing towards Ukraine (remember when Democrats pretended to care about that county?). Indeed, Douglas Murray, in a scathing article about Biden’s failure to lead the West, notes that the U.S. government has warned the EU that it thinks Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine. Certainly, Russia is amassing the troops needed to carry out an invasion.

These things didn’t happen when Donald Trump was president. Why? Because under Trump, America didn’t behave like a pitiful helpless giant.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses