Joe Biden’s last week’s comments, exceptionally stark and revealing, have left some – fuming and many of the rest — wondering. Why would a seasoned diplomat choose to sound so undiplomatic about some of the US allies? Radio VR is discussing it with Dr Mateusz Piskorski (Poland), and Dr George N. Tzogopoulos (Greece).
Speaking at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Mass., the US Vice-President made a special point of the need for US to strengthen its ‘core alliances’ both in Europe and Asia. He then spent his weekend apologizing.
On Saturday, Mr. Biden called to apologize to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “for any implication that Turkey or other allies and partners in the region had intentionally supplied or facilitated the growth of ISIL or other violent extremists in Syria," the White House said.
Then, Sunday, the UAE requested "a formal clarification" from Biden on comments that America's allies in the Middle East sent weapons and cash to extremists fighting in Syria. So, according to the White House next statement, Mr. Biden called Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates, to clarify that he did not mean to imply in his remarks last week that the Gulf ally was supporting al-Qaida fighters in Syria.
In his speech Mr. Biden also ‘complimented’ the US European partners stressing it was the US who insisted on economic sanctions against Russia – against the will of some of the European governments.
Humiliating allies is not the best way to forge alliances. Yet, Mr Biden is a seasoned diplomat, too experienced to commit such blunders. So, why has he done it?
Says Dr. Mateusz Piskorski, Director of European Centre of Geopolitical Analysis:
“I think that it is really worthy to study the latest statement of Joe Biden, concerning the fact that it is really a rare opportunity to have a direct evidence of what the American elites think and do, when it comes to the most important issues of the contemporary global policy. So, on the one hand, we have quite a huge evidence of the US engagement in several conflicts, which are focusing the attention of the world public now, such as the Ukrainian one and the economic war against Russia. And on the other hand, we have the conflict in the ME and the so-called IS, which also have the world media and the world public attention focused at now.
So, actually, what Biden says, it is not something new, because several commentators and several experts have already voiced their opinion about the nature of the activities of the US worldwide. But it is an important fact that a high official, like the Vice President of the US, confirms and admits several mistakes and even misleading of the contemporary US policy, which is quite of an importance.
Why has such an experienced and seasoned diplomat actually chosen to insult some of his allies?
Dr. Mateusz Piskorski: We perfectly know the real attitude of the American elites towards the EU countries. So, one has to speak about the lack of confidence in the European partners, when it comes to the so-called spying scandal, which, I remind you, concerned major European politicians, who were spied on by the US intelligence just one year ago.
Then, we know what the European allies have already told, not in public but in private conversations, about the nature of the US-European relations. For instance, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Mr. Sikorski, has in a very brutal way characterized the nature of such relations.
So, we might say that everyone knows it, everyone is aware of the nature of the European-US relations, but only a few politicians on a few official occasions had enough boldness to say the truth about the nature of those relations. And I think this is the real attitude of the US elites and of the Obama administration towards Europe.
So, we may already forget about all those moments of fascination with Obama when he first became the President. I remember all those gatherings in Europe during his European visits, like in Berlin. And we might say that the relations between the US and the EU will be quite tough now, that the European politicians cannot deceive the public opinion of distinct European countries any longer about the so-called strategic partnership with the US, as the US does not treat their European counterparts as real partners, but rather treat them – to say it diplomatically – not in a very serious way.
On the other hand, of course, the US will try to continue their global strategic program, which is still to create the so-called Transatlantic trade and investment partnership, which was supposed to be an alternative to the proposition of Vladimir Putin, who proposed close cooperation between the Eurasian Union and the EU. So, anyway, I fear that in Europe there still are some quite influential pro-Atlantic political circles, which, regardless of all the offenses and offensive statements made by the Vice President of the US and other US politicians, will continue this way and will try to pursue their final goal – the goal of the so-called Transatlantic cooperation”.
Says Dr George N. Tzogopoulos, the founder of chinaandgreece.com and a regular columnist in Global Times and People's Daily:
“People in Europe practically knew that it was the US which put pressure on Brussels to impose the sanctions on Russia, because Europe is much more dependent on the Russian cooperation than the US. So, at the beginning, Brussels had been much more reserved in terms of following that kind of policy.
Now, answering the question – why the Vice President of the US decided to make this public now? I think that is mainly related to the midterm elections which are coming, and the fact that the Democrats want to show that they are prepared to follow kind of an aggressive foreign policy, and that the role of the US is still important in terms of influencing other actors on the international arena.
But by saying that, Mr. Biden disagrees with the current foreign policy of the US.
Dr George N. Tzogopoulos: Perhaps, in the periods before the elections those kinds of statements are expectable. And we know that right now the US has many open fronts in the world politics, and the ME is one of the most important of them, not to mention Ukraine. So, it is quite clear that for the moment the public opinion in the US supports the bombardments of Syria and the policy makers and the politicians, like Mr. Biden, still want to focus on that kind of policy and to explain why it is important.
And as far as Europe is concerned, I think it is important for Mr. Biden to show to the public opinion of the US that America still has the lion’s share and the leading role in terms of influencing the decisions with its partners, because Europe is still the partner of the US but Washington still has the upper hand on it.
Do you think we need to expect some kind of change in the course of the US, some kind of change in its tactics? Could this rhetoric issue some kinds of signals to the ruling elites in the ME which are considered to be the US allies?
Dr George N. Tzogopoulos: They are certainly upset, as far as the US foreign policy is concerned. We can remember that in the previous months and years President Obama was saying that he prefers peaceful solutions. And now we see that, again, the US follows the way of war and prefers to give the solutions manu militari. So, there is a clear difference in the policy of the US. And the case of Syria right now confirms the fact that this difference exists.
However, we should also mention that there was a wrong estimation on the part of the US regarding the existing threat of terrorists in the ME. And the fact that they now want to stop this problem, again, manu militari, possibly shows that they have not learnt some lessons from the past, that these kinds of war and military methods in the ME cannot give the ideal solutions. This is the most important lesson, in my opinion.
Could those statements have any kind of implications for the future of the relations between the US and those countries in the ME?
Dr George N. Tzogopoulos: I think that what Mr. Biden wanted to show, is that right now the fact that the US is establishing an alliance with five Arab countries in order to deal with the ME situation can be a turning point and a key point in the successfully implementing the strategy of the US. On the other hand, however, if we look at the number of support for the US and on how the image of America is portrayed in the ME, these numbers are quite disappointing. The Pew Research poll, for example, suggests that the image of the country is very-very negative.
So, I agree with you and I think that not only the comments of Mr. Biden, but generally the US foreign policy in the region in the previous 10-11 years is the reason for that kind of anti-American stance. So, possibly, I expect the deterioration of the relations in the near future.
Sometimes in the diplomatic practice we can hear certain surprising comments. But then, behind the scenes all the parties understand that those have been made for some kind of reason and they actually come to terms with that. Now, when we see, for example, the Government of the UAE and Mr. Erdogan of Turkey demanding an official explanation to that, does that imply that they are genuinely distressed over those comments?
Dr George N. Tzogopoulos: Yes, possibly. But on the other hand, we should also bear in mind that one of the reasons why Mr. Biden, for example, connected Turkey to the chaos in the ME and Syria is the fact that he wanted to put the blame for the current turmoil on someone else. And for that reason Mr. Erdogan reacted, and now the two parts seem to have found a solution on the matter.
Again, in my opinion, I think that the most important context in which we should place the comments of Mr. Biden, is the current political debate within the US, because the midterm elections are coming. This is the most important conclusion, in my opinion. And, of course, then we have to also comment on the strategy of the US, which has proven to be unsuccessful in the previous years and the current chaos is the best confirmation in that regard.
What would you identify as the major mistake or miscalculation in the strategic approach of the US?
Dr George N. Tzogopoulos: I think that the most important problem is democracy and that it cannot be exported manu militari. And this was the most important miscalculation which started in 2003 with the Iraq war. But even right now we see that many terror organizations appear, although no information about them has existed previously. That is to say that it is very-very difficult to assess the situation in foreign countries, especially in Syria, in Iraq and in other countries. And as long as there is no plan for the day after, this is very tough to cooperate with the domestic forces within these countries.
In the case of Syria, for example, we see that the US wants to isolate some of the members of the opposition forces and cooperate with them in the future. But the question which can be asked is: how can we define these groups and how in the final account the US will be able not only to find them, but also to cooperate with them. There seems to be a lack in the consistency of the logic of that kind of argument”.
