WASHINGTON (AP) – In less than two weeks in office, President Joe Biden faces two critical tests on whether the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol has damaged the U.S. position as a beacon of democracy.
Protests in Russia and a military coup in Myanmar they arrive as American credibility on the world stage has plummeted after last month’s Capitol assault by a pro-Donald Trump mob that sought to stop Biden’s election victory certification.
This adds to Biden’s weight as he tries to fulfill a campaign commitment to dramatically reposition the US as a world leader after four years of Trump’s foreign policy driven by an “America First” mantra. This policy was marked by the frequent contempt of democratic allies and the occasional reception of authoritarian leaders.
Biden’s top diplomat, Antony Blinken, acknowledged the difficulty.
“I think there is no doubt that the attack on our own democracy on January 6 creates an even greater challenge for us to carry the flag of democracy and freedom and human rights around the world because, for sure, , people in other countries are saying to us, “Well, why don’t you look at yourself first?” the secretary of state said in an interview with NBC News.
Blinken added: “The difference, however, between us and so many other countries is that when we are challenged, even when we challenge ourselves, we do so in broad daylight with complete transparency.”
Biden, in the early days of his presidency, has tried to send the message in a series of calls with foreign leaders that the United States has returned.
He reassured Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga that the US has its support in an ongoing territorial dispute with China over islands in the East China Sea. He has tried to re-establish relations with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom Trump was despised as “dishonest and weak.” And he told Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador that the U.S. would send $ 4 billion assist development in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, nations whose difficulties have led to migrations from Mexico to the United States.
“The United States remains a country in the world seeking leadership,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. “It will take some time, but he has certainly promised to do so.”
But the crises in Myanmar and Russia present Biden with difficult evidence of his promise to restore world leadership that are likely to be far more complicated than repairing fences with traditional allies.
On Monday, Biden threatened to impose new sanctions on Myanmar after a coup that saw the military arrest its government’s civilian leaders, calling the episode a “direct attack on the country’s transition to democracy and the rule of law.”
In his first call with Russian President Vladimir Putin as counterparts last week, Biden expressed concern over the arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the crackdown on supporters who supported his arrest. Mass arrests have only accelerated in the days since the two leaders spoke while protests have continued across the country.
“For Putin, he looks at the Capitol riot and sees it as further evidence of his worldview, a continuation of the degradation of liberalism in the world,” said Michael McFaul, who served as U.S. ambassador to Russia in the Obama administration. “Biden’s election does not mean much to him about his theory of liberal democracy. While Putin’s opponents are very encouraged by the election of President Biden because he shows that American democratic institutions were resilient. “
To that end, Navalny’s supporters wrote to Biden over the weekend urging him to take significant action with sanctions against members of Putin’s inner circle to show he is serious about regaining the U.S. role as a defender of democracy.
“His argument is: if you only sanction a group of low-level colonels … that’s exactly what Putin expects,” McFaul said. “They want the Biden administration to sanction the economic actors of the Putin regime and they have made it easier for the Biden administration to name them all in its seven-page letter.”
Representative Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, drew a line from Trump to the coup in Myanmar. Trump had made baseless allegations of widespread election fraud that were dismissed by several courts, as well as by Trump’s own Justice Department.
An ad read on Myawaddy TV, owned by the Myanmar army, explained that the confiscation was necessary because the government had not acted on unsubstantiated allegations of army fraud in the recent elections in the Southeast Asian nation. and because it allowed elections to continue despite the coronavirus pandemic.
“When America speaks and acts, the world watches and when our leaders propagate conspiracy theories and subvert democracy here at home, it is a dangerous example for the rest of the world,” Schiff said.
Opponents such as China, Iran and Venezuela pointed to the Capitol Uprising as proof of the fragility of American democracy. Some allies even said the scene was disturbing and has led them to reconsider the position of the United States as the self-proclaimed beacon of democracy.
“After something like this, I think it would be very difficult for the world to see the United States as a symbol of democracy,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy said in an interview with “Axios on HBO.”
___
Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.