Alarming for anyone who has called for an end to the vision which sees Washington as essentially acting the like to ‘global police force’ – which unfortunately became a (disastrous) reality starting in the Bush years and under the neocons, Biden vowed that as commander-in-chief he would\u00a0“defend democracy globally”<\/strong>.<\/p>\n He urged for the US to rebuild\u00a0“the muscles of democratic alliances that have atrophied from four years of neglect and abuse.”\u00a0<\/strong>He emphasized that\u00a0<\/strong>“We can’t do it alone.”<\/p>\n Of course, the big question is what will that look like, with many expecting a return to the kind of\u00a0‘humanitarian\u00a0interventionism’\u00a0abroad and liberal internationalism that defined the Obama years<\/strong>.\u00a0This often took the form of covert wars (with the foremost example being Syria) and military interventions under the guise international coalitions (such as NATO’s war on Libya) aimed at\u00a0regime change.<\/p>\n “We must meet this new moment of accelerating global challenges \u2013 from a pandemic to the climate crisis to nuclear proliferation \u2013 that will only be solved by nations working together in common cause,” Biden\u00a0said in the afternoon address. “That must start with diplomacy, rooted in America\u2019s most cherished democratic values: defending freedom, championing opportunity, upholding universal rights, respecting the rule of law, treating every person with dignity.”<\/p>\n Here are some of the highlights and significant foreign policy changes in US posture…<\/p>\n Russia<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n Biden said that\u00a0“we will not hesitate to raise the costs on Russia.”<\/strong>\u00a0At a moment Russian opposition leaders are lobbying Washington for the\u00a0targeted use of Magnitsky sanctions on Putin’s inner circle, Biden actually mentioned the imprisoned opposition activist Alexey Navalny by name.<\/p>\n He called on the Kremlin to\u00a0release Navalny “immediately and without condition”\u00a0<\/strong>while expressing that authorities had targeted him for “exposing corruption” of Putin and top Kremlin leadership. And\u00a0further<\/a>:<\/p>\n He said that he “made it clear to President Putin, in a manner very different from my predecessor, that\u00a0the days the United States rolling over in the face of\u00a0Russia\u2019s aggressive action”<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 pointing to cyber attacks from the SolarWinds breach and the poisoning of opposition figure\u00a0Alexei Navalny\u00a0\u2013\u00a0“are over.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/bidenspeechnew.jpg?itok=Yo1-NjsV\")
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