Since the disastrous Atlanta debate against Donald Trump, US President Joe Biden has been tested at every event he takes part in. After a few days of campaigning, he put on his great statesman’s suit on Tuesday and took part in the event celebrating NATO’s 75th anniversary with a passionate defence of the Atlantic Alliance and its historic role. Biden announced the delivery to Ukraine of new defence systems against air attacks, at a time when it has just been hit hard by Russian missiles. Biden was blunt: “Ukraine can and will stop Putin,” he said. “Ukraine will prevail, not Russia,” he added.
“Today I am announcing a historic donation of air defense equipment to Ukraine,” President Joe Biden said at the opening of the NATO summit in Washington. “The United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Italy will provide Ukraine with the equipment for five additional strategic air defense systems,” he added. He also said that in the coming months the United States and other countries will provide Ukraine with dozens of other tactical air defense systems and hundreds of munitions for them.
The United States, Germany and Romania will send additional Patriot batteries to Ukraine, while the Netherlands and other allies will provide Patriot components to form one more battery, according to a joint statement released by the White House. Italy will provide a SAMP-T air defense system. Other countries, including Canada, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom, will provide other systems that will help Ukraine expand its coverage. And others have agreed to provide munitions for those systems. The United States has already sent two Patriot missile systems to Ukraine — one late last year and another recently.
The announcement of the delivery of the new air defense systems comes the day after Russia launched a powerful missile offensive against Ukraine that caused at least 41 deaths, more than 170 injuries and hit a pediatric hospital in kyiv. Biden has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to “wipe Ukraine off the map.” “And we know that Putin will not stop in Ukraine. But make no mistake, Ukraine can and will stop Putin,” he added. The joint statement — signed by the leaders of Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Romania along with Biden — is emphatic: “Our message to Moscow and the world is clear: our support for Ukraine is firm and unwavering.”
SHAWN THEW (EFE)
“Russia will not prevail. Ukraine will prevail,” the US president said. “Make no mistake: Russia is failing in this war,” he added, noting that 350,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded, and another million people have fled the country. “When this senseless war began, Ukraine was a free country. Today, it is still a free country, and the war will end with Ukraine a free and independent country,” he said. “kyiv was supposed to fall in five days. Remember that? It is still standing two and a half years later, and it will still be standing.”
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“A NATO more powerful than ever”
The US president appeared in relatively good shape in the imposing Mellon Auditorium, the same place where on April 4, 1949, the 12 founding countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) signed the so-called Washington Treaty, with which the Alliance was born. The decoration of the venue recalled that of the images from 75 years ago. “Today, NATO is more powerful than ever, with the strength of 32 countries,” said Biden, who considers the expansion of the Alliance (with the incorporation of Finland and Sweden) and the unity shown in response to Russia as one of his great achievements in foreign policy. “It is good that we are stronger than ever, because this moment in history demands our collective strength,” he added, with a double warning: “Autocrats want to overturn the world order, which has generally been maintained for almost 80 years and counting. Terrorist groups continue to hatch evil plans to cause chaos and suffering,” he said.
The US president spoke in an energetic tone, without the hoarseness or coughing that ruined the debate on June 27, and with a coherent and error-free speech, read, of course, through the transparent auxiliary screens that act as teleprompters. He barely looked away from the teleprompternot even to award NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who is nearing the end of his term, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. In fact, when he went to present him with the medal, he seemed to have read some notes by mistake.
The NATO summit was singled out by the president himself as an opportunity to demonstrate his ability to lead the world’s leading power. Biden demonstrated again, as he did in his State of the Union address last March, that he can convincingly read a carefully prepared speech. He had no lapses or major errors.
That, however, is probably not enough for those who point to his difficulty in stringing together an impromptu speech. Thursday’s press conference at the end of the summit has been pointed out as a more suitable opportunity, but holding a press conference without major blunders is not a very high bar to measure his worth either.
In an interview with ABC News last week, the president pointed to the summit as a milestone: “I guess a good way to judge me is that there is going to be a NATO conference here in the United States next week. Come listen. Let’s see what they say,” he challenged.
Biden, in any case, has taken advantage not only of his speech, but of the entire anniversary celebration to show his commitment to NATO. The president accuses his Republican rival of trying to disengage from the Alliance. Perhaps for this reason, from the introductory historical video, Biden made an effort to display the consensus that has traditionally existed in the United States with respect to NATO. Republican President Ronald Reagan and Democrat John F. Kennedy had prominent appearances in that video.
In fact, Biden also quoted Reagan in his speech, then insisted: “An overwhelming bipartisan majority of Americans understand that NATO makes us all safer. The fact that both the Democratic and Republican Parties are represented here today is proof of that.”
The president also highlighted that 23 of the 32 member countries are meeting the alliance’s defense spending target this year of 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP). Only nine countries met the target in 2020, when Biden won the election. He also highlighted the importance of the Atlantic Alliance in the current geopolitical context: “This is a crucial moment for Europe and the transatlantic community, and I would add for the world,” he said.
Only Biden and Stoltenberg spoke at the event marking NATO’s 75th anniversary. The Alliance Secretary General also urged members to continue supporting Ukraine. “Russia’s war on Ukraine is the biggest security crisis in generations,” he said. “Ukraine has shown remarkable courage and NATO allies have provided unprecedented support,” he added.
“Our alliance was created by people who had lived through two devastating world wars,” Stoltenberg explained. “They knew all too well the horror, the suffering and the terrible human cost of war,” stressing that NATO is “not only the most successful and strongest alliance, but also the most enduring in history.” He went on to warn that “there are no costless options with an aggressive Russia as a neighbor; there are no risk-free options in war.”
The Secretary General explained that the greatest risk would be if Russia won the war in Ukraine, as this would embolden Putin, but also other authoritarian leaders in Iran, North Korea and China. “The time to stand up for freedom and democracy is now; the place is Ukraine,” he said. “We are stronger and safer together, in NATO,” Stoltenberg concluded, while admitting that the Alliance will continue to face difficult issues in the future.
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