The United States isn’t back—it never left

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 4, 2021
Contact: press@defensepriorities.org

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, President Biden gave a speech at the State Department articulating his administration’s overarching U.S. foreign policy vision. Defense Priorities Policy Director Benjamin H. Friedman issued the following statement in response:

“President Biden said good things in his speech about putting the American people—not self-interest—first in diplomacy, the value of dissent among officials, and the need for transparency and a free press. His announcement that the U.S. will finally end support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen is good news, especially if it’s a first step toward recalibrating the U.S.-Saudi relationship and ending U.S. involvement in the other conflicts of the Middle East.

“But the speech’s major premise, that ‘America can’t afford to be absent anymore on the world stage,’ is a useful fiction for the president. The United States isn’t back—it never left. It’s true the U.S. left the Paris Climate Accords and ceased cooperation with the World Health Organization. But the U.S. did not abandon any alliances—in fact, alliances grew, with new forces sent to the Middle East in service of the foolish quasi-alliance with the Saudis, and to Eastern Europe. NATO, and thus U.S. defense commitments, expanded. No new wars were started, but all of them continued, albeit with an overdue drawdown in Afghanistan.

“The global posture review Biden announced unfortunately includes a pause to the limited drawdown of the excessive U.S. forces in Germany. It should avoid the logic that more U.S. presence and spending necessarily aids American power. True burden sharing—shifting security commitments to wealthy allies so they take more responsibility for their own defense—would strengthen the U.S. by freeing up resources while preserving stable balances of power. This more restrained approach would serve a nation committed to leading, as the president likes to say, not just by the ‘example of its power but the power of its example.’”

Author

Benjamin
Friedman

Policy Director