The not so secret fact that the media in the United States fails to report on, is the frailty of President Biden. They tend to protect him as much as possible. They refuse to ask questions of the White House about Joe’s health, and fail to question the obviously scripted performances that he delivers.
His grasp on his surroundings are so feeble that he tends to run off at the mouth, even when facing soft ball interviewers like George Stephanopoulos. It was during the last sitting with George that he said about President Putin that “He will pay a price.” What that meant was never specified. President Putin responded with a quip about Biden’s health that was most likely a tongue in cheek reference to his diminishing capacity.
After that self inflicted wound, Secretary of State Blinken took a team to Alaska so they could be thoroughly bloodied by the Chinese diplomats. The President tried to play it off as a win, but China turned it into a very believable propaganda item for them. Immediately following this debacle, China hosted Russia for a summit to discuss their relationship, now that they had taken Joe’s measure.
China has further sidelined the Biden team by signing a 25 year agreement with Iran that is meant to “undercut American efforts to keep Iran isolated.” This will help weaken the sanctions that have been put into place in the Iranian economy.
Now, China and Russia are both threatening to make major moves in their areas of influence. They issued threats on the same day to the President to not get involved in their affairs. This is from the American Military News:
On Tuesday, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned President Joe Biden’s administration against getting involved in Ukraine, amid Russian forces massing on the Ukrainian border. Also on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian warned the Biden administration against getting involved in Taiwan.
Russia is still amassing troops on the border with Ukraine, and China continues to send military aircraft in record numbers into Taiwan’s airspace. These are just further tests of the Biden Administration.
They are basing their moves on a few assumptions. One is that Biden is just a third term for Obama, which is supported. A lot of the Biden Team are Obama veterans, and the foreign policy of appeasement mirrors that of Obama as well. Another is that Biden is not very popular at home. Significant numbers of the US populace doubt the validity of his election, so any controversial moves that he makes will weaken him further. And maybe most importantly, if China and Russia move at the same time, Biden may not have enough resources to counter them effectively. This is especially true since the Chinese have made heavy investments into their navy in recent years.
With the world powers actively working to weaken Biden, and the performance displayed so far, there isn’t much evidence that action on their parts will be met with any real force. So in their risk versus reward calculation, Biden is a minimal risk, versus the huge reward of continuing to simply ignore him.