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US President Joe Biden addresses America from the White House Oval Office on Oct. 19, 2023, regarding the military clash between Hamas and Israel.

By Lee Bon-young, Washington correspondent

Karl Marx’s immortal quote “a specter is haunting Europe” can be used in a variety of different circumstances simply by switching out the subject that follows it. Now it’d be safe to say that a specter is haunting the world—the specter of Donald Trump. Not only are the elites in Washington on edge at the prospect of Trump’s return to the White House, but so are many governments around the world. If we take a look at what happened during his term as president and the sentiments he is currently expressing, the fact that so many people are nervous about his possible re-election isn’t all that surprising.

The person benefiting the most from this fear of a Trump comeback is the current US president, Joe Biden. Biden is using Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign to prove his point that he also needs to run again.

However, there is a need to look at Biden’s first term with a critical eye. During his time in office, conflicts escalated everywhere, bringing war. It’s almost mystifying to see so few problems actually being solved. Biden’s America is like a bull in a china shop, wrecking so much with the tiniest of movements.

The worst that has come out of his term is the war in Gaza. Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, stated eight days before Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel that, “The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades.” The phrase will be regarded with derision for a long time to come.

While it is true that the relevant parties to various conflicts bear primary responsibility, the Biden administration has helped create, exacerbate and prolong such conflicts.

The US claimed that it would solve the Middle East problem definitively by pushing for the normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab states. This is believed to have fueled Hamas’ sense of urgency and motivated the group to go ahead with its surprise attack. The US also pushed for Ukraine’s membership in NATO, giving Russia the excuse to also start a war.

The US now finds itself in a paradoxical situation in which it is supporting a country that has been invaded (Ukraine) as well as a country that is an aggressor (Israel). 

If these situations had been brought about simply by a lack of ability and inadequate strategy, there would at least be room for sympathy. However, the consistent cold-heartedness and opportunism demonstrated by the Biden administration is earning the disgust of many, as can be proven by how Biden’s traditional base is beginning to renounce their support.

At no point while more than 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza were being killed by Israeli bombs did the US join the international community’s calls for a ceasefire. The US did not stop there but supplied Israel with bombs to kill indiscriminately while merely paying lip service to minimizing civilian casualties. By deploying a massive fleet of warships off the coast of Israel, the US is ensuring that no other forces can step foot in the region of conflict.

Washington has basically provided Israel with an environment that enables it to run amuck and raze the Gaza Strip to the ground. We are all aware that international politics is nothing but a game showing who is more of a hypocrite than the others, but this is going too far.

Biden’s unfeelingness is no surprise. Such a stance can be seen in the minutes of a White House meeting held in April 1975, right before the fall of Saigon, in which the problem of whether South Vietnamese who had helped the US should be evacuated or not was raised.

As a 32-year-old first-term senator, Biden said, “I will vote for any amount for getting the Americans out. I don’t want it mixed with getting the Vietnamese out.”

Will the Biden administration, with its knack for complicating existing problems instead of solving them, be different in its approach to the state of the Korean Peninsula? The escalation of tensions with North Korea during Biden’s term has kept pace with rising tensions elsewhere in the world.

Even if the underlying cause of the problem is North Korea’s violation of UN Security Council resolutions, the US lacks the active will and the ability to solve this problem. It is painful to imagine what catastrophe could erupt when such a lack of ability is combined with the rising hostility between the two Koreas.

Praying that Trump doesn’t get reelected may well not be enough.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]