“100 days of Biden’s presidency-America is back, now its allies must shore up their game” by Adnan Pavel
It is long been said that it’s never been a good bet to bet against America. Biden’s leadership in last 100 days is just about that. Why the first 100 days is important? It is important because the 100 days set the tone of the leadership. To my humble understanding, Biden has outperformed most of the former presidents in his 100 days. He has appointed most diverse and experienced set of individuals as his cabinet, he has pushed through America’s rescue plan in Senate, shown determination to revive America’s immigration and foreign policy. His tenacious and pragmatic leadership is helping the economy to get back on track, unemployment is already falling.
America has its own woes, and it is far from perfect, but America’s global leadership has paramount importance for maintaining the international order. America would never be able to lead the world only by focusing on its domestic issues. Trumpism is still in prevail and there is fear that there are possibilities to have another “America First” president in 2024 but the pursuit to purge the era of isolationism has already been reflected on Biden’s presidency. However, Biden’s determination would only sustain if its allies remained committed to this common cause. Europe must increase its defence budget in a proportionate way to face the ever-increasing threat from Russia, radicalised non-state actors from the MENA zone and Chinese aggression. Europe, Britain and other allies must assist and pursue America to come up with aspirational strategy to support policy reformation in troubled regions to sustain development and diffuse transnational security risks. Autocracies would triumph globally if America and its allies take too long to reach consensus on critical issues.
Too long the NATO and EU have given too much importance on Russia, giving less priority to China. But the time has come now to ensure that enough attention is given to China by NATO, Britain and EU as China is promoting “Beijing model of democracy”, making developing countries to keep shut by giving them financial aids that comes with unprecedent and unfair terms, violating human rights and causing huge environmental damages for short term economic gains.
Democracies and its institutions need continuous nourishment. Too long the “Deep State Liberals” were complacent about the poor performance of the national and international institutions in the West. The growing discontent among the ordinary citizens owning to the repercussions of inequality, lack of access to the 21stcentury amenities, unfair justice system may jeopardise the pursuit of the USA and its allies to champion their global vision. Therefore, the effort to fix the national and regional issues should not be overshadowed either.