America Stretched Thin
Published in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
(Germany) on 07 December 2023
by Nikolas Busse (link to
original)
The blockade of aid for Ukraine is a sign of the global power’s changing priorities and strategic exhaustion. Germany faces a difficult choice.
President Joe Biden is right. The vote in the Senate that denied further aid for Ukraine and Israel will be remembered for a long time. Not because it is necessarily the last word on this issue. In January and February at the latest, the conflicting parties in Congress will have to negotiate the budget again. Then, there could be new possibilities for compromise.
Border Security and Immigration
The most notable aspect of the situation is the way party politics is hobbling foreign policy. The U.S. is abandoning a country attacked by a rival as well as an old ally because U.S. political leadership can’t agree on border security and immigration. Even after accounting for the election factor (Donald Trump), it signals a change in priorities and the strategic exhaustion of a global power that has long been stretched thin.
In Berlin, many still believe that U.S. solidarity is guaranteed forever. But we are no longer living in the Cold War. What is now happening in Congress shows that Russia is no longer widely understood to be a direct threat.
That weakens NATO and also German security even more than the underfunded state of the German military. In Germany, too, priorities need to change. No one wants to hear it, but soon we will have to choose between the social state and defense.
President Joe Biden is right. The vote in the Senate that denied further aid for Ukraine and Israel will be remembered for a long time. Not because it is necessarily the last word on this issue. In January and February at the latest, the conflicting parties in Congress will have to negotiate the budget again. Then, there could be new possibilities for compromise.
Border Security and Immigration
The most notable aspect of the situation is the way party politics is hobbling foreign policy. The U.S. is abandoning a country attacked by a rival as well as an old ally because U.S. political leadership can’t agree on border security and immigration. Even after accounting for the election factor (Donald Trump), it signals a change in priorities and the strategic exhaustion of a global power that has long been stretched thin.
In Berlin, many still believe that U.S. solidarity is guaranteed forever. But we are no longer living in the Cold War. What is now happening in Congress shows that Russia is no longer widely understood to be a direct threat.
That weakens NATO and also German security even more than the underfunded state of the German military. In Germany, too, priorities need to change. No one wants to hear it, but soon we will have to choose between the social state and defense.
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