Putin Isn’t the Only Reason Biden’s ‘Pivot to Asia’ Is Doomed
Three consecutive presidents have tried to stabilize the world and focus on China. But reality keeps getting in the way.
Those smiles have disappeared.
Photographer: Peter Klaunzer/Getty Images
President Joe Biden has a big problem: deterring Russia from invading Ukraine and starting the largest land war in Europe since 1945. In an attempt to de-escalate the situation, he held a two-hour virtual meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
Yet Biden has a bigger problem, in that one of the pillars of his foreign policy is already crumbling. Biden is not the first president to hope that the world would quiet down so the U.S. could focus on Asia. And amid a cold winter of crises, he’s not the first to find that the world isn’t playing along.