President Biden has a rare opportunity: Because he is no longer seeking reelection, he should calculate his entire focus on winning the global war that Russian President Vladimir Putin has launched against the West.
Russia’s war on Ukraine is escalating into a much larger World War III. As a result, an axis of evil is fast forming against Washington and Brussels. Democracy is under attack and the White House needs to stop trying to settle things.
Taiwan is under threat from China. Russia’s Wagner Group paramilitaries are subverting democracies in Africa’s Sahel region and propping up dictatorships in countries like Venezuela. Israel is surrounded by 19 Iranian-backed militias, and nuclear-addled Tehran is trying to build more nuclear weapons in Israel. Jordan’s new terrorist front against Jerusalem.
Old enemies of the “war on terror” are also regrouping: ISIS and al-Qaeda are destabilizing Syria and Iraq, and ISIS is poised to carry out deadly attacks, such as the terror threat at Taylor Swift’s Vienna concert last week. Online Caliphate To radicalize and weaponize young people in Europe and America.
The unfolding global catastrophe is nowhere more intense than in Ukraine. Traveled to Kursk and Belgorod Oblasts in RussiaSince launching the “special military operation” in February 2022, every red line set by President Putin has been crossed by the Ukrainian military.
Defending democracy indefinitely is no longer an option. We are now in win-or-go-home territory. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his generals are ready to fight this existential battle for Washington and Brussels. Israel is poised to launch a preemptive strike against Iran and its proxies if necessary.
Defeating Russia in Ukraine first would help solve many of the national security challenges facing NATO and Washington’s Indo-Pacific allies: Moscow would be contained and Iran would once again be isolated.
Venezuela and Cuba are effectively in checkmate, sending a clear message to Chinese President Xi Jinping that democracies are still capable of winning a war.
But to get there, Biden will have to navigate November’s partisan politics and the calculus of electoral politics that too often dangerously undermines U.S. national security. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will be battling over who will control the White House in January 2025.
Biden’s legacy will not be determined by who wins the November election, but by whether he was prepared to create the conditions for winning World War III, or whether he faltered and allowed Putin and Xi Jinping to destroy the power of America that has stood as a force for good since the end of World War II.
Wartime visuals are important, especially when war is global and there is a growing risk of it spinning out of control. Biden Sitting on the beach Last weekend’s rally in Delaware sent the wrong message to Moscow, Beijing, Tehran and Pyongyang: it suggested an ineffectual president and a White House without anyone actively holding them accountable.
Last weekend in particular could not have come at a worse time to let the enemies of democracy know this: Ukraine was beginning to take the lead within Russia, and Israel was (and remains) under imminent threat of direct attack by Iran, Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed proxies.
Eastern Europe and the Middle East are a powder keg rife with flames already dangerously lit, and Biden needed to be in the White House, and perhaps even to give a candid speech from the Oval Office, warning that a rapidly escalating global war was engulfing us.
Putin is leading the country Total War System30% of Russia’s GDP is spent on the military. 2.7 percent in the United StatesBut Biden’s America is still on summer vacation.
Xi Jinping is similarly consolidating power within China, deliberately tailoring the Chinese economy to facilitate the rapid expansion of the People’s Liberation Army on land, at sea, in the air, and, ominously, in space.
If Biden is to win World War III and protect global democracy, he must confront two obvious starting points: Ukraine and Israel.
At Kursk, Kiev spectacularly demonstrated what its military can do if it is allowed to operate according to the doctrine of combined arms warfare, outfighting and outmaneuvering a static and monotonous Russian force. Washington needs to provide Ukraine with even more offensive weapons capabilities and munitions and remove all remaining restrictions on their use.
Crimea remains a crucial battleground in Russia’s war against Ukraine, and the White House must do everything in its power to ensure that the AFU makes the peninsula indefensible for Russian forces.
In Israel, Biden must stop being ambivalent in November politics. Hamas is the enemy and the president must demand its unconditional surrender. Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ new political leader after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, should be a target for Washington, not seen as a partner in a ceasefire.
Sinwar has killed dozens of Americans and is still holding eight Americans hostage after 312 days of captivity in Gaza. He is a terrorist, not a partner of peace. Latest Rejection of Ceasefire This should serve as a warning. Simply put, he is murdering Americans, and Biden must stop giving him a helping hand.
It’s also time for Biden to address the threat from Iran. Alarmingly, the IAEA has reported for the first time that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. Biden’s own Office of the Director of National Intelligence has also warned Congress about this, he said. Reporting by reporter Andrea Stricker At the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Blindly easing tensions between Jerusalem and Tehran could have an unintended consequence: Iran’s nuclear program. Successive presidents have put off the Iranian nuclear program for a long time. Now Biden is the president who, fairly or not, is facing the end of the road. Putting off the program could well lead to catastrophe in the Middle East.
World wars do not wait for any country. Wars hit democracies when they least want them. Right now, wars hit Ukraine and Israel. And if Biden does not bring victory to these allies, World War III will hit the US too.
Mark TothHe writes about national security and foreign policy. Colonel Jonathan Sweet (Ret.)He served as a military intelligence officer for 30 years and led U.S. European Command’s Intelligence Division from 2012 to 2014.
