Joe Biden IS a President that is dealing with TWO armed conflicts…..
In one he is supporting a fight against a Russia grab for a country that left the fold decades ago….
In the other things are much more complex…..
On one side he is supporting a country that has been viciously attacked with hostages taken…..
The other side is suffering under bombing and collateral damage for the sake of trying to stop repraisal attacks….
On the second conflict?
Things COULD get worst with America sucked in…..
Biden, the guy who worked his politics in the US Senate….
Is trying to work peace among sides in the Middel East that seem to NOT want it….
In the Ukraine?
One party wants to be left alone….
The other side won’t let it….
Trying to be the world’s cop IS a tough job….
Could u imagine Donald Trump being the President?
I Can NOT….
In a prime-time address on Thursday night, President Biden ramped up his efforts to explain to Americans what is at stake as wars rage in the Middle East and Ukraine, ahead of his expected request to Congress for tens of billions of dollars for additional military aid for its embattled allies half a world away.
After returning to Washington from a one-day visit to Israel following the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7, Mr. Biden made a televised address from the Oval Office on Thursday night, arguing that providing military and economic aid to Israel and Ukraine was in the interest of global stability and the national security of the United States.
He is expected to soon ask Congress for $14 billion in emergency assistance for Israel and $60 billion for Ukraine’s war with Russia, according to people familiar with the administration’s plans.
Mr. Biden’s address came amid heightened hope that some humanitarian aid would soon enter Gaza, where basic human necessities are nearly depleted after more than a week of an Israeli siege triggered by Hamas terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, which claimed more than 1,400 lives and put more than 200 hostages in enemy hands. During and after a bold visit to Israel on Wednesday, Mr. Biden said both Israel and Egypt had agreed to let the aid through. Trucks full of food, water and medicine are waiting near Egypt’s border crossing into Gaza.
Gazans, already living under a 16-year blockade by Israel and Egypt, have been facing increasingly desperate conditions since Israel responded to Hamas’s brutal Oct. 7 terrorist attack with airstrikes and a “complete siege” of the enclave, where Hamas is embedded among a densely packed civilian population of some two million. After an Israel evacuation order for Gaza’s north, and amid intense Israeli airstrikes, nearly half of Gaza’s people have been displaced, according to the United Nations, and dwindling essential resources threaten civilians with disaster.
Other developments:
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Israel’s military said it had been in contact with the families of 203 people taken hostage in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks, raising by four the number of people believed to be held in Gaza. The military also said that it had caught a Hamas fighter trying to return to Gaza, underscoring the possibility that attackers were still in Israel. Daniel Hagari, a military spokesman, said soldiers would “continue combing the area.”
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Satellite imagery shows that hundreds of Israeli tanks and armored vehicles have gathered about four miles north of the Erez Crossing into northern Gaza, in preparation for a potential ground invasion. The crossing has been closed since Hamas fighters seized it on Oct. 7.
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Israel’s northern border with Lebanon remained tense as Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, and the Israeli military continued clashes there. With Israel threatening a ground invasion of Gaza, many in the region fear that the fighting with could escalate into a war involving Lebanon.
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Seven Palestinians were killed in the West Bank in the last 24 hours, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, including one who was shot dead by settlers during an attack on a Palestinian village. The remaining six were killed by Israeli forces during overnight raids, the ministry said.
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Gaza health officials told a news conference that at least 3,785 people had been killed and more than 12,000 injured in the enclave since Oct. 7. The figures are believed to include casualties from the hospital explosion in Gaza City. Hamas and Israel blame each other for that blast, which prompted sporadic protests in Europe and in some Arab nations for a second night…..
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Biden wrapped up after about 15 minutes, and now the issue goes to Congress, which is effectively frozen by the dysfunction in the House where Republicans are in their third week without a speaker.
image….Demetrius Freeman/The Post
i give the speech a B+ Might have more to say tomorrow.
For now, I want to express my strong objection to the choice to headline this post “Ukraine and Gaza.”
As the President pointed out, Ukraine and Israel are our allies and the nations who need our help. Ukraine and Israel are the victims of aggression that America is standing beside.
Of course that is not to say that the innocent people inside Russia and Gaza are victims of brutal tyrants and terrorists also.
The speech sounded like it was composed by a committee whose members had different priorities, and seemed rather muddled and incoherent to me.
Pres. Biden needs a reincarnation of William Safire, Ted Sorensen, Theodore White or Pierre Salinger to provide a clear overall theme.
It began being written weeks ago about Ukraine and then the events in Israel led to that being included as well but it was very necessary to link the two global situations, just as it is important to speak out against both anti-Semitism and Islamaphobia in the U.S. Ring-wing talking heads are in agreement with DSD in saying it was muddled and went back and forth too much.
In terms of the contest itself, *much* of it sounded like it could have been delivered by President George W. Bush. That is of course a compliment from me and especially how it compares to the rhetoric and worldview of Biden’s two Presidential predecessors.
Of course, GWB and Biden are the only two people to become President that I have ever voted for. It is very likely they will be the only Presidents in my life I will have ever voted for.
I wish I could vote for one of them again.
Brian Stelter
@brianstelter
Fox’s
@BritHume
with the network’s first reaction to Biden’s prime time address about Israel and Ukraine: “I think it may be remembered as one of the best, if not THE best, speeches of his presidency. He was firm, he was unequivocal, he was strong…”
I tend to agree with Brit as it relates to the substance. It should be noted that Brit Hume has been stating on the air for years now that Biden is “senile.”
“I wish I could vote for either one of them again”.
Lol. I look forward to a long self serving soliloquy next fall on how you will throw away your Presidential vote on…Mitt Romney, Dick Cheney, The Ghost of Nancy Reagan etc.