Biden will speak to the world on Tuesday

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Biden will speak to the world on Tuesday

March 1, 2022

Stephen Collinson and Shelby Rose

The leader of the free world

President Joe Biden's State of the Union address on Tuesday was always going to be his most important night of the year. The West's standoff with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine has transformed the speech from a critical domestic political showpiece into a vital moment for the world.

The annual address will be Biden's best chance to make the case for a presidency that has been losing traction for months in a nation exhausted by the coronavirus pandemic, rising inflation and high gasoline prices and divided by the vicious aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. Now with President Vladimir Putin lashing out with nuclear threats -- and as Russia pounds civilian targets in Ukraine and fears grow a regional war could spin out of control -- Biden's prime-time appearance takes on the historic aura of an address from, in Cold War parlance, the leader of the free world.

Given the pace of events in Ukraine, Biden will not know the exact status of the conflict until shortly before he arrives in the US House of Representatives at 9 p.m. ET (0200 GMT). He will surely detail the scope and aims of the relentless US and Western effort to punish and isolate Russia, which has already triggered a sudden banking crisis in Moscow. Biden will also be under pressure to calm a global audience given the jitters by Putin's order for Russia's nuclear arsenal to be put on high alert. And his speech will be closely watched to see if there is a high-level message to the Russian leader that a diplomatic off-ramp is available that could allow for de-escalation and an easing of pressure designed to make Russia a pariah state.

But Biden's primary audience will be at home. Latest polls show that public confidence in the President's capacity to handle foreign affairs, the Covid-19 crisis and inflationary pressures hurting the wallets of regular Americans has been cratering. Biden faces a delicate test between empathizing with the difficulties facing the country and creating a sense of optimism that, with the Omicron wave ebbing, better times are ahead.

Biden needs to urgently turn things around. As it stands, Democrats are facing heavy losses in midterm elections in November in which Republicans are hot favorites to win back the House and could take back the Senate. Victory in either chamber would allow the GOP to throttle Biden's domestic presidency for the final two years of his term. Pro-Donald Trump Republicans are already planning politically motivated investigations to make life miserable for Biden and his White House.

Biden will be framed by a moment of history in his first State of the Union address. (The first speech to Congress by a new president, which Biden delivered last year, is traditionally known as an address to a joint session of Congress.) Behind him will be two women -- Nancy Pelosi, the first female House Speaker, and Kamala Harris, the first female vice president. By the time Biden takes the podium next year, Pelosi is likely to have been replaced by Republican leader Kevin McCarthy -- or whichever acolyte of Trump the radicalized House GOP conference decides to elevate as speaker.

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Employees at a state liquor store pull Russian-made or branded vodka from the shelves in Manchester, New Hampshire. (WMUR)

From comedian to tragic hero

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his courageous nation have already done more to transform the West's policy toward Russia than 30 years of post-Cold War summits, policy resets and showdowns with President Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian leader's defiance has inspired and shamed the United States and the European Union into going far further -- and far faster -- in turning Russia into a pariah state than it appeared they were ready to go. By promising weapons and ammunition to Zelensky, 44, the West appears increasingly to be drawn into a possible proxy war with Moscow over Ukraine.

Washington and its allies have now rushed to personally sanction Putin, cut off Russia's central bank from US dollar transactions and kick key Russian banks out of the vital SWIFT global financial network.

In the most extraordinary shift, Germany, under new Chancellor Olaf Scholz, has pledged to exceed NATO targets for defense spending and has overcome its reticence to send weapons to war zones by vowing to arm Ukrainians fighting Russia's troops. Germany also halted the Nord Stream 2 pipeline bringing vitally needed Russian gas to Western Europe.

In another striking moment, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a Putin protege, has sided with fellow European Union leaders against the Russians. Another autocrat, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had warm ties with Putin, has invoked a 1930s convention that could complicate Russia's Black Sea naval operations.

And Britain, after long turning a blind eye to oligarch wealth laundered through swank property in London, is belatedly declaring a purge against "dirty money."

The rush to punish Russia followed fervent calls by Zelensky for help. European leaders reported that in a call with them last week, the Ukrainian leader had said he didn't know how long he or his country had left. Few outsiders expected Zelensky -- a former comic actor who, to the frustration of US officials, ignored or downplayed US warnings of an imminent invasion for weeks -- would morph into a leader to match this moment in his country's history.

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On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden will deliver his State of the Union address. Truckers are expected to protest against government mandates in Washington, DC. A US delegation led by former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen will visit Taiwan.