Analysis

US in Dangerous Hiatus Amid Biden's Lame Duck Period, Exploited by Allies - Jeffrey Sachs

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States is in a dangerous hiatus during outgoing President Joe Biden's lame duck period, which several US allies are trying to exploit, Jeffrey Sachs, a world-renowned economist and president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, told Sputnik.
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"President Biden is not really in full control anymore, both because of his waning mental status and his lame duck status," Sachs said. "We are in a dangerous hiatus. [Israel's Benjamin] Netanyahu is exploiting that hiatus, and [Volodymyr] Zelensky is trying to as well."
The United States backs Israel’s reckless behavior, talks openly about war with China, and continues a delusional policy in Ukraine that is bleeding that country while threatening to provoke more escalation, Sachs explained.
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Zelensky has been pushing the Biden administration to allow Kiev to use US-supplied long-range missiles for deep strikes inside Russian territory, which Russia has warned could drag the United States directly into the conflict. To date, Biden has refrained from granting Ukraine its request.
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, Netanyahu continues to expand his military operation in the region, shifting its focus from Gaza to Lebanon, which provoked Tehran to conduct its second aerial assault against Israel on Tuesday and left open the possibility for more military action by Iran.
Sachs added that there is little chance Biden will steer the United States toward a "good direction" throughout the remainder of his term, but there's also no guarantee that things will improve after either Republican candidate Donald Trump or Democratic candidate Kamala Harris comes into power on January 20.
"I hope for rationality by the next government, because we need a completely new foreign policy, based on negotiation, mutual respect with other great powers, and peace," Sachs said. "The US doesn’t seem to have much sound thinking at the top right now."
Many other countries are trying to exploit US military power, including the United Kingdom, Poland, and the Baltic states, which are all urging reckless policies by the United States that could land it quickly in World War III, Sachs noted.
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