The Biden administration’s foreign policy has entered a deep and possibly transformative crisis. Most, though not all, of the ideas Team Biden brought to the White House failed to work. But most, though not all, of the changes American foreign policy requires will be toxic to much of the Democratic base.
Not all the administration’s ideas have been discredited by events. Joe Biden was right, and Donald Trump was wrong, to see the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and democratic values as important elements in American foreign policy. NATO’s response to the Russian aggression in Ukraine was faster and more far-reaching than Moscow expected. And as Russia’s assault on Ukraine continues, the bravery and democratic values of Ukraine’s defenders remind hundreds of millions of people how important democracy is and how squalid and brutal authoritarian kleptocracies can become.
These successes, however welcome, are both insufficient and incomplete. Inspiring as NATO’s reaction has been, neither the prospect nor the reality of Western sanctions has affected Russia’s conduct of the war. Undeterred by sanctions, Russian forces continue to hammer Ukrainian defenses, with Sunday’s strike on a facility in western Ukraine used for the transshipment of Western weapons signaling a Russian willingness to escalate its challenge to NATO.
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