Biden defends foreign policy amid global crises
Ongoing President Joe Biden has defended his foreign policy record, asserting that the U.S. is stronger and its adversaries weaker than when he took office, despite unresolved global crises.

Ongoing President Joe Biden has defended his foreign policy record, asserting that the U.S. is stronger and its adversaries weaker than when he took office, despite unresolved global crises.
Speaking to diplomats at the State Department, Biden highlighted U.S. support for Ukraine against Russia and Israel in the Middle East, claiming America is “winning the worldwide competition” without engaging in new wars.
Biden insisted that the United States is “winning the worldwide competition” and noted that fears of China surpassing the U.S. economically have been quashed, despite ongoing global crises. He pointed out that Russia and Iran, without direct U.S. military involvement, have been significantly weakened by their respective wars.
“Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are weaker,” Biden said. “We have not gone to war to make these things happen.”
Despite these assertions, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East continue to rage. Biden expressed hope that a deal could be reached between Israel and Hamas before his presidency concludes on Jan. 20. He spoke urgently about the need for a resolution to free hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and to allow humanitarian aid to flow into the region.
“So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. Palestinian people deserve peace, a right to determine their own futures. Israel deserves peace and real security. The hostages and their families deserve to be reunited,” Biden said. “And so we’re working urgently to close this deal.”
Biden’s support for Israel, particularly since the onset of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in October 2023, has sparked criticism. The violence began with Hamas’s attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and took approximately 250 hostages. In response, Israel’s military assault on Gaza has resulted in over 46,000 Palestinian deaths, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and sparked accusations of war crimes and genocide. Protesters outside the State Department on Monday, some shouting “war criminal,” voiced their discontent with Biden’s stance, even throwing red liquid to symbolize blood.
Biden, however, stood firm in his support for Israel, claiming that U.S. involvement had helped Israel defeat adversaries such as Hamas and Hezbollah, backed by Iran. He also emphasized that Iran itself had been weakened, particularly by the collapse of the Syrian Assad government.
“All told, Iran is weaker than it’s been in decades,” he said, underscoring the U.S.’s role in diminishing Iranian power.
Biden acknowledged the growing alignment of authoritarian states such as China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia but argued this was a sign of weakness rather than strength. He took pride in Ukraine’s ability, bolstered by U.S. support, to thwart Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempts to overrun the country. He recalled his 2023 visit to Kyiv, the first by a sitting U.S. president to a war zone not under American control.
“When Putin invaded Ukraine, he thought he (could) conquer Kyiv in a matter of days. Truth is, since that war began, I’m the only one that stood in the center of Kyiv, not him,” Biden said.
Russian officials, however, interpreted Biden’s speech as a provocation. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the Biden administration of deliberately escalating tensions and bringing the world closer to nuclear confrontation by supporting Kyiv.
Biden also defended his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, arguing that China and Russia would have benefitted from the U.S. remaining bogged down in the region for another decade. Looking ahead, he asserted that experts had predicted China’s economic dominance over the U.S. when he entered office, but now, he claimed, such fears would never be realized.
While acknowledging that challenges remain in Ukraine, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific, Biden expressed confidence that the U.S. is in a strong position to face these issues, leaving the incoming administration “a very strong hand to play.”