Will Georgia Lose Out with the Biden Win?

Op-Ed

In the early Georgian morning on November 8, word started coming through the wires that a new United States president had been selected by the American people as the 46th President of the United States: Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. Immediately had been supposedly selected by the American people as the 46th President of the United States. Immediately, many rushed to social media to either celebrate, or claim foul. While Georgia has had its issues with electoral problems, the United States is no different. Multiple credible reports of ballot fraud and false voting are beginning to surface. While many of the reports and videos of this occurring are going unreported by many of the conventional media outlets, it’s important to note that the contest for arguably the most powerful position in the free world will continue in the courtroom. Despite this, it’s quickly becoming true that Biden is headed for the Oval Office. If he is enshrined as president, many in America may see it as a loss, but it’s the Georgians that stand to lose more.

Corruption is something many of us have come to expect in our politicians. Just as buying a car comes with additional costs, such as fuel, parts, insurance, etc., electing a politician comes with certain baggage. However, it should not be so much as to debilitate the buyer and thus cause one to refrain from the purchase. Biden has too much baggage. While President Trump is far from a flawless person, let alone an unblemished politician, and there certainly is argument for his removal, it is easily displayable to anyone that many, including those outside the borders of the United States, benefitted from his presence. A Biden presidency will leave America’s allies in the cold.

But who is this man who seems so lauded by the media and shielded from any inquisition?

Born in 1947, Joe was a self-admitted poor student. Graduating from the University of Delaware, he ranked 506 in a class of 688 studying history and political science. He then went on to study law at Syracuse University, ranking 76 in his class of 85. All of which he has been on record lying about, particularly about his ranking in his law class. As this was at the height of the war in Vietnam, Biden filed for a student deferment and later plead out of service due to asthma.

For a few years, Biden practiced law at a small firm in the state of Delaware and also as a Public Defender. After some time on the local council, he narrowly won a position as a US Senator in 1972. From 1973 to 2009, he served in the United States Senate. During this time, he ran for president in 1987. After repeatedly lying about his educational history and his involvement in the civil rights movement, he was forced to resign and abdicate from the race. He continued on in the political sphere, largely to no real effect.

But what does this mean for Georgia? Biden has largely been ineffective in foreign policy for the past four decades, so much so that it stands to hinder Georgia greatly. Robert Gates, the former defense secretary under the Obama administration, even admitted that Biden has been wrong on every major foreign policy and national security issue that has faced the United States in the past 40 years. He promoted the 2003 invasion of Iraq, then changed his position two years later while proceeding to lie about where he stood initially.

He opposed the operation to kill or capture Osama Bin Laden, arguably the most universally supported decision the world over. He claimed that we needed more information, as if 10 years of the most intensive and comprehensive intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance efforts had not presented enough. Biden touted the Libya operations by NATO and the local militias as a success story, then turned a blind eye as the entire country collapsed into a socio-political disaster, ending with the death of a United States Ambassador and three members of his team that were left behind.

Then there’s Russia. In 2012, Biden made several statements that Russia was not a threat on the world stage. Despite the scars of the 2008 war still healing, he believed that Russia should be a friend of the West. Biden, and his larger Obama administration, continued to let faith in the United States dry out as he handed Syria and Eastern Ukraine over to the Russians. Biden played a game of appeasement with Putin as people cried in Sevastopol and Aleppo.

Georgia will be left in the cold, outside and unsupported, as the Biden administration stumbles over itself in the dark. If Georgia thought that the West was questionable in its level of support against Russian aggression, that thought is now fact. Should Russian T-90s arrive outside Tbilisi, the Biden administration has already proven they have no intention of intervening with Russian expansion operations. Given their past positioning with Iran, they may even remain neutral on such a move by the Kremlin.

While Georgia has its own political issues, it should be lost on nobody that the United States is a major player in the region. Regardless of personal feelings, facts are that the US and Georgia are instrumental in the NATO Counter-Russian agenda, and this framework is now in jeopardy due to the lack of backbone Biden possesses. NATO will suffer as a result of his ineffectualness, and as Georgia is an extension of that alliance, it too will pay the price for his slack policy. While Trump was not a man to be easily loved, it was obvious that his stance against Russian aggression and support for NATO was firm. Now, Georgia may have to turn to itself and defend hearth and home alone, again.

By Michael Godwin

Image source: AP Photo/Matt Rourke