Is Biden Fanning the Flames of War?

What makes U.S. Vice President Joe Biden tick? It’s the question that no one is asking. His inopportune statements are just as good as those of the most extreme neoconservative Republicans. It is actually his most recent remarks, in particular those about Russia, that are raising eyebrows.

This American politician, who drags behind him more than 36 years of a political career, and who gained experience in the Senate, is known for his gaffes, his clumsy announcements, and his undiplomatic words — in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, he concluded that “Russia has no choice but to make concessions to the West” — that have put American diplomacy in an uncomfortable position over and over again.

This activity in overdrive didn’t fail to be noticed, especially since for more than a year, he has been leading a veritable smear campaign against Russia, staying in Kiev several times in the middle of the Ukrainian crisis. While his clumsy trips put him on the front page of the media and get him invited on television channels, they also give him a not-so-agreeable image.

All this unrest could also come from his intention to position himself in the race for the White House. For a vice president — the U.S. Constitution doesn’t define any job for the nation’s second role — Joe Biden overdoes it nonetheless, adopting an aggressive attitude that hardly suits the Democrat he claims to be. He didn’t get himself noticed by any feat of arms, but instead presided for long years over the Senate’s powerful Foreign Relations Committee. You can tell that Mr. Biden isn’t a novice in diplomatic matters, and if his remarks seek to crush, even inflame, situations, he does it in a deliberate manner — by provocation or, distressingly, by the conviction that his position gives him the right to break all the rules that he asks Russia, among others, to respect.

But this unrest might also be connected to his new political ambitions, as he casts an envious glance at the American presidency. Thus, against all odds, Vice President Biden is feverishly positioning himself as an alternative to Barack Obama. The foreign policy declarations of the president of the American Senate — the U.S. vice president holds the presidency of the Senate — which are more and more involved, would lead you to believe it. Of course, he has a right to dream. Nevertheless, the chances of a vice president are very slim if you believe American analysts. According to a recent survey, he is credited with only 12 percent of the vote in a Democratic primary, while Hillary Clinton leads with 73 percent of favorable voices for her candidacy.

In fact, questioned by a journalist from CNN asking him to give a “good reason why you shouldn’t run” as the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden had this response: “There may be reasons I don’t run but there’s no obvious reason for me why I think I should not run.” Also, the American vice president doesn’t rule out the possibility of his candidacy, even though in 2016, at the time of the election, he will be 73 years old.

It’s far from a done deal because he would still need to hurdle many obstacles, but for all that, that must be done on the back of other countries, or by encouraging beyond what’s reasonable a certain bellicose state to attack its neighbors.

In 2009, during the TV show This Week on ABC, he declared, “We cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do,” adding, “Israel can determine for itself … what’s in their interest.” The Movement Against Racism and for Friendship reacted at the time, saying his words gave Israel “carte blanche to lead an attack against Iran.” Mr. Biden, who deems that the right of Israel is to “determine what’s in their interest,” is very selective and is no longer of that opinion when it comes to other countries. During the Ukrainian crisis, he had these words: “Russia will and should remain a major source of energy supplies for Europe and the world.” So, Russia isn’t as sovereign as Israel, or is he playing with the rules as the United States does?

Yet, if a country is fanning the flames of the Ukrainian crisis, it’s definitely the United States. Let’s note that the American vice president traveled to Maidan Square in Kiev right in the middle of the Ukrainian chaos, following a Fascist putsch that deposed President Viktor Yanukovych. Last week, Joe Biden was again in Maidan to celebrate the first anniversary of the “revolution” supported uncompromisingly by the West.

Holding a symbolic position, according to the American tradition, the U.S. vice president reveals each day a new aspect of his personality that isn’t always the standard of what can be expected from a leader of the world’s top superpower. Joe Biden? An enigma!