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By Joel Wendland-Liu
After a classic failure of diplomacy that saw the U.S. government's paranoid response to a wayward civilian balloon and several "UFOs," U.S. President Joe Biden aspires to turn the page on that narrative during a trip to Poland.
It was scheduled weeks ago, also following the explosive revelations published by Seymour Hersh, which exposed evidence of the U.S. government's operation to destroy the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
The White House wants the media to discuss the U.S. government's intent to prop up support for the NATO-supported conflict in Ukraine. Washington's role in the conflict is "a classic case of a proxy war," writes international relations scholar Monica Duffy Toft. Proxy war refers to a situation where one country backs a war in another country with material and economic support to achieve certain political objectives without risking danger or damage to its own territory or people.
On Wednesday, Biden plans to meet with leaders from the so-called Bucharest Nine (B9), a group of Eastern European NATO countries that share borders with Russia and Ukraine. The aim will be to apply pressure on B-9 countries that continue to resist full-fledged support for the U.S. plans for Ukraine.
It's a war, however that has garnered limited public backing in many European countries and for which most Americans continue to show only thin support. According to recent polling data by the global polling firm IPSOS, large majorities in two key B9 countries – Poland and Hungary – oppose the expansion of military operations in Ukraine that might draw their countries into war.
As U.S. government officials have admitted, Biden's massive financial and military support for Ukraine combined with the State Department's diplomatic offensive has deliberately blocked serious talks between the two warring countries.
The recent effort to deepen U.S. domination of Europe through NATO is enhanced by the rules under which that alliance operates. To secure membership in NATO, member countries in Europe intend to make substantial purchases of military hardware from U.S. military contractors and submit intelligence software to U.S. control. Many countries end up borrowing resources from U.S.-controlled financial institutions to purchase that hardware from U.S.-controlled companies to meet this demand.
In doing so, those countries surrender their own autonomous development capacities, becoming more dependent on the U.S. for technology and production. In addition, many find themselves forced to cut social services for their populations to pay for NATO privileges. In simpler terms, NATO operates as a mechanism for entrenching U.S.-led neo-imperialism in Europe.
Commentators on the Nord Stream 2 sabotage also say the net effect has been to force Germany, once strategically positioning itself for energy independence, to return to the U.S. hat-in-hand to meet its energy needs. The U.S. share of Europe's natural gas market is expected to grow after the delayed opening of Nord Stream 2.
Biden's trip to Poland aims to underline this system, even as the tens of billions of dollars he has pumped into Ukraine threaten to dry up in a Congress divided along partisan lines. The trip serves as a calculated attempt to boost the president's image as militaristic in the wake of the disastrous balloon paranoia.
The trip will also try to deflect increasing domestic tensions, since recent economic data continues to signal weakness. The derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in Ohio earlier this month exposed the Biden administration to sharp criticism for siding with railroad companies, including Norfolk Southern, against railroad workers who threatened to strike over health and safety issues.
Biden's trip to Poland points to the administration's apparent intention to prolong the violence in Ukraine and continue to prevent serious peace and security talks. The administration has prioritized deepening U.S. involvement and the danger of inching ever closer to a wider war in Eastern Europe over peace and security for either Ukraine or Russia.
Furthermore, its commitment will likely produce massive conflicts within its own support base as forced cuts in social spending, the uncharacteristic refusal to support workers, and idleness amid the massive environmental disaster in Ohio dominating the administration's domestic agenda.
Biden's trip signals a decision to run for re-election, as candidates for president from either of the dominant parties usually present themselves as war hawks.
Unfortunately for him, however the military disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan had marked the weakness of the U.S. military machine. The ongoing struggle to shore up support for the NATO proxy war reveals that it's less a defense of freedom and democracy and more a battle to sell U.S. equipment and to integrate European development into the U.S. political and economic sphere exclusively as the twilight of its global hegemony looms. This latter is daily proving more dangerous for Europe and the world since the mid-20th century.
Joel Wendland-Liu is an associate professor of the Integrative, Religious and Intercultural Studies Department of Grand Valley State University in the U.S.
