National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan previewed Biden’s statements at a news conference on Thursday morning.
Biden’s comments follow a coup in Myanmar earlier this week and the Russian government sentencing opposition leader Alexei Navalny to more than two years in prison – events that pose a challenge to one of Biden’s top global priorities: promoting democracy . Biden will likely touch on that goal as well as his desire to re-engage with U.S. allies who were alienated by his predecessor, Donald Trump.
While Biden’s message will contrast with Trump’s “America first” agenda, he will not necessarily be divorced from her. Biden and his international affairs team, led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Sullivan, argued that US foreign policy decisions should be made with the needs of ordinary Americans in mind – an internally linked issue that Biden is likely to emphasize in his comments. by Foggy Bottom.
“It is about thinking about national security as national competitiveness,” said Sullivan during the briefing. Biden and his advisers emphasized that, in order to triumph in the “competition of the great powers” with China and Russia, the United States needs to invest more internally in areas such as education and infrastructure.
Moving away from the Yemen conflict
Sullivan gave few details about exactly how the United States will reduce its participation in Yemen, where Iran-backed Houthi rebels are fighting against forces led by Saudi Arabia. Sullivan announced that the United States will end support for “offensive operations in Yemen”, but did not provide details on exactly what that means.
A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment.
The United States currently plays an extremely limited role in the Yemen war, where the war and the subsequent humanitarian crisis have persisted for years. The Trump administration, under pressure from Congress, ended the practice of providing air refueling support to the Saudi-led coalition. The US military currently conducts training for the coalition on the reduction of civilian casualties and shares some information related to the defense of Saudi Arabia.
The announcement does not extend to US support for the fight against Al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, Sullivan said.
The only concrete measure the new government took was to freeze the sale of additional weapons to the Saudi-led coalition, which bombed Yemen with US-made precision guided bombs. Lawmakers tried to end sales under the Trump administration, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushed them using emergency authority.
Tensions in the relationship with Saudi Arabia, as well as concerns about what is happening inside Yemen, prompted Biden to promise to end the role of the United States in this conflict as soon as he becomes president.
Biden is also expected to appoint a US envoy to focus on Yemen, a nod to the need for diplomacy.
Gerald Feierstein, former US ambassador to Yemen and senior vice president of the Middle East Institute, said the impact of the announcement will be more on what it signals to Gulf of America partners, rather than actually hampering Saudi capabilities in the Yemen.
He also noted the semantics of the announcement: by limiting the movement to end support for Saudi “offensive” actions, Biden is leaving the door open to continue to assist Riyadh in defending and defending the border against attacks by Houthi missiles and drones.
“The issue will be the extent of the cut in the United States,” said Feierstein in an e-mailed statement. “In my opinion, the Saudis support the end of the conflict, as long as the resolution reflects their main security requirements.”
Mick Mulroy, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Trump’s Middle East policy, noted that the end of US military support for the Saudi-led coalition will not halt the country’s humanitarian catastrophe and called for a “comprehensive international plan” to resolve the conflict.
“The interruption of US military support to the Saudi Arabian-led coalition was expected, but it will not prevent the human suffering that is happening in that country,” said Mulroy, a retired CIA officer and analyst at ABC News. “There needs to be a comprehensive international approach plan, preferably led by the United States, to support the United Nations in reaching a lasting peace agreement and taking Yemen from a failed state to a fragile and eventually to a fully functional country. . ”
A first opening to a foreign human rights policy
Sullivan also said that Biden will announce a presidential memo on “protecting the rights of LGBTQ individuals around the world”.
Biden’s decision to visit the State Department is also symbolic in the sense that it boosts the morale of American diplomats, who often felt mistreated under Trump. The former president once called his institution “Department of State Deep” – a reference to the belief of him and many of his advisers that there was a parallel government within the bureaucracy that aimed to thwart his agenda.
When they arrive Thursday afternoon at Foggy Bottom, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are expected to speak with State Department officials for the first time. The two will then meet Blinken before Biden makes his speech.
Biden and his aides take over at a time of international caution over the direction of the United States’ foreign policy, with many countries allied in Europe and in addition to questioning America’s long-term reliability. Events abroad since Biden was sworn in on January 20 have only added to the pile of challenges that await him.
On Monday, the military in Myanmar overthrew the country’s civilian government. The coup is a setback for democracy and, intentionally or unintentionally, a blow to Biden’s efforts to promote democratic ideals. Biden denounced the coup and threatened to impose sanctions on the Myanmar military. Your government is also coordinating with other countries to find ways to put further pressure on the junta.
These efforts come amid growing US bipartisan concern over the global ambitions of China’s authoritarian government. Biden and his aides have made it clear that they see China, which is a neighbor of Myanmar and its largest trading partner, as the United States’ main international competitor.
The Biden government is also dealing with Vladimir Putin’s Russia, where the poisoning of opposition leader Navalny and the subsequent arrest has sparked mass protests and thousands of arrests.
Sullivan said that while the government “takes steps to hold Russia accountable” for its evil activities, including the SolarWinds hack and US election interference, this “does not rule out” working with Moscow where it is in the US interest.