As the president discusses what White House officials say are “real achievements for the American people and the world” in his final U.N. address, a world filled with crises looms outside.
In February 2021, two weeks after he moved into the White House, President Biden reminded the nation’s diplomats of his promise to restore American leadership in the world. In a speech at the State Department, he summed up his election in three words: “America is back.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Biden will confront the limits of that promise when he addresses world leaders at the United Nations for his fourth and final time as president. The White House says he will make the case that his “vision for a world where countries come together to solve big problems” has “produced results, real achievements for the American people and the world” after the isolationist and chaotic Trump era alienated many global leaders.
But all around Mr. Biden, there are problems yet to be solved. In Gaza, a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas remains elusive after 11 months of fighting. The escalating volley of missiles across the Israel-Lebanon border poses the threat of a multifront war in the Middle East. The war between Russia and Ukraine is dragging deep into its third year with no end in sight.
“America’s back, all right — he can make that case — but with severe limitations on its capacity to lead,” said Aaron David Miller, a longtime Middle East peace negotiator who has advised presidents of both parties. “Biden’s administration is a cautionary tale, I think, of just how complicated and surprising the international environment is, and the limitations of American power.”
White House officials, speaking anonymously on Monday evening to preview Mr. Biden’s remarks, offered few specifics. They said he would use his speech to talk about an array of issues, including about the climate crisis and the environment; the need to strengthen systems for providing humanitarian assistance to strife-torn areas like Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan; and the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence.
Mr. Biden, who arrived in New York on Monday evening, will also meet on Tuesday with the secretary general of the United Nations, António Guterres, to discuss efforts between the U.N. and the United States to advance peace, safeguard human rights and help countries develop. And he will host a meeting of a coalition to address the global opioid crisis.
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