German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Joe Biden “has shown leadership for our joint alliance.”
Washington:
Everything was going according to plan. President Joe Biden was positioning himself as the leader of the free world when he hosted a NATO summit and then, at one point, made an embarrassing slip of the tongue.
While Biden struggles to convince many Americans that he is still fit for office, NATO leaders have placed their trust in him, albeit cautiously, partly out of fear of another Donald Trump presidency.
Biden concluded the three-day NATO summit marking its 75th anniversary in Washington with a bold pledge that “Ukraine will prevail” against Russian President Vladimir Putin and praised the courage of iconic Ukrainian war leader Voldymyr Zelensky.
Joe Biden turned to Zelensky in his battle fatigues and said: “Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin.”
Biden quickly corrected himself and Zelensky, a former comedian, immediately ridiculed the gaffe, saying, “I'm better than Putin.”
But this temporary blunder quickly brought back memories of his debate with Trump two weeks earlier: he himself had failed to convince the audience that he was still of sound mind.
Biden 'the boss'
Whether through direct observation, fear of Donald Trump’s return or a simple unwillingness to offend the host, no leader has openly questioned Biden’s competence. At 81, he is six years older than the alliance itself.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he spoke at length with Biden during a dinner for leaders at the White House.
“I saw, as always, a president who is in control, who is clear about things and who he knows well,” Macron said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also said that Biden “showed leadership for our common alliance.”
“There are occasional slips of the tongue, but if you keep a close eye on everyone, you'll find plenty,” Scholz said.
New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said accusations of senility against Biden were unfounded and the two allies spoke in the Oval Office for nearly an hour, longer than expected.
“We did it at pace. He was in good form,” Starmer, whose Labour Party swept aside the Conservatives last week and has no sympathy for Trump, told British media before the summit blunder.
Polish President Andrzej Duda, who has close ties to Trump but appreciates Biden's support for Ukraine, told reporters: “I spoke with President Biden and there is no doubt that everything is fine.”
When asked if he was concerned about the United States, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said that in democracies “there is always unrest before elections.”
“I have absolutely no concerns about the ability of the current president of the United States to lead his country, to lead our fight for Ukraine, to lead NATO,” he said.
“The only thing I'm concerned about is that the political climate in the United States right now is too toxic and too polarized, and there's not enough room for civil and constructive debate” about policy, he told reporters.
Many NATO leaders privately fear a Trump victory in November. He has loudly criticized the alliance, with its promise of collective defense, as an unfair burden for the United States.
Trump aid workers have suggested making aid to Ukraine conditional on forcing Kiev to cede territory and quickly reaching a deal to end the war, calling it a distraction from the larger challenge posed by China.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she would not comment on the US election, but stressed that the United States and Europe will remain united regardless of who wins the election.
“You saved us once,” she said of the United States. “Please continue to do so.”
One of the dissenting voices within NATO is Hungary's populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
He traveled to Russia and China, as well as Ukraine, before the NATO summit, and was scheduled to go to Florida to meet Trump afterward.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Our staff and is published via a syndicated feed.)
